


Ad maiora

by rcctshaw



Category: Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Lost, Explicit Sexual Content, F/F, Out of Character, Violence, i honestly don't think you need to have watched lost to read this ?? but i'm not sure
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-05
Updated: 2016-06-29
Packaged: 2018-07-12 11:39:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 39,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7101712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rcctshaw/pseuds/rcctshaw
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sameen Shaw gets offered a job by Hugo Reyes and Benjamin Linus to work on the Island, which doesn’t seem to be under any imminent threat. </p><p>As she starts working there, she realizes how fucked up the system of that Island is. She needs to understand that bad temper and rash decisions won’t work there and how much is at stake if she does anything wrong.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So I wrote this story because I really love Lost and Shoot. And it's mostly about the Person of Interest characters, but there's lots of Lost characters too.  
> It follows the end of Lost, like six years after it, so the fic is in 2013.  
> If you don't know, after the end of Lost, Hugo Reyes and his second hand, Benjamin Linus, recruit people to live on the island. I decided to create a bit of drama to it.  
> You'll see, though. I hope you'll like this, honestly.

#####  **Day 1**

#####  **California, San Diego**

#####  _**8:30 AM** _

 

 

Shaw sat down on the comfy chair of the office she just entered and looked around herself, slightly annoyed. She honestly had no idea what the man – he said his name was Dean Moriarty – who called her last night wanted from her, but he had insisted that this would be an opportunity she wouldn’t want to miss.

Sameen wasn’t a fan of mystery and this situation felt slightly off to her, but the man was really convincing. He had a really weird voice that sounded like- “Hello, I’m here for my appointment?” -that. Exactly like that.

She looked up and saw an old man, maybe around sixty, with mousy hair and glasses and she frowned. This man didn’t seem to be her employer, in all honesty.

“Mr Li- Moriarty?” A boy – Shaw reasoned he had to be around nineteen – asked and the man with the glasses cocked his head to a side confused.

“Who?” The man asked and Shaw could swear the look on the boy’s face mirrored her own. “I’m here for an appointment with... Hugo Reyes?” The boy’s eyes widened and he nodded vigorously, looking through his charts, but the Persian woman was sure he was still quite confused.

“Sure, Mr…?” The boy trailed off, hoping the man would reveal his identity and luckily for him, the man did.

“Mr Harold Finch... Walt,” Mr. Finch said, looking down at Walt’s name written on the counter. Shaw raised her eyebrows, because it seemed that both her and the boy were not entirely sure that this man was actually “Harold Finch”.

She reasoned this wasn’t none of her business only at this point and she looked down at her black pants, huffing. This was boring and she had been waiting for half an hour and no one called her yet.  
“Ms Shaw?” Never mind. She rolled her eyes and stood up, glaring at the man who called her. He was handsome, Shaw thought. He had black hair, blue eyes and way too much eyeliner for Shaw’s liking, but she wasn’t one to judge someone for wearing too much make-up.

She followed him, forgetting the man with mousy hair and glasses. The office he led her to, was enormous and she stared at the big windows in front of her. She huffed, annoyed. People seriously wanted to get shot. As an ex-agent for the government, she knew very well that such windows were the best for snipers.

She looked around herself and before she could say anything, the man with mousy hair appeared in front of her, but this time he had no glasses and he wore a suit without a tie, unlike the man from before. He also seemed to be a tad younger, but she couldn’t tell.

“Sameen Shaw. A pleasure to meet you. My name is Dean Moriarty,” the man greeted her, extending his hand to shake hers, but she didn’t move and he retreated his hand, smiling. It wasn’t a nice smile, but she ignored it, moving forward to sit on one of the leather couches in the middle of the office.

She remembered the man before had said his name was ‘Harold Finch’ and she glanced warily at the man now sitting in front of her.

“Ironic,” someone said behind her and Shaw frowned. The voice was annoyingly high, it had a Texan accent and she hated it. “Moriarty was Sherlock’s nemesis, right? So who’s your Sherlock Holmes… Ben?” The woman said and Shaw raised her eyebrows, impressed. Only then she dared steal a glance at her and the woman was gorgeous. She had long legs – that was the first thing Shaw noticed as her eyes went up – a small cleavage, but she liked that and her face was just breathtakingly beautiful. She had a perfect nose, dark eyes, kissable lips and her hair was wavy and brown. She hated her already. No one – _no one_ – had ever been described this way before and she couldn’t change that.

“Root. I knew choosing you was a wise idea,” Ben smirked and Shaw frowned deeper, feeling quite side-lined in this conversation. Besides, choosing? For what? For the thing she couldn’t miss for the world?

“Sure it was, Benjamin,” the woman – Root – smiled and her teeth was beautiful too. Shaw didn’t have a fetish, but this woman really had great teeth. Only then the woman looked down at Shaw and something flicked through her face, making her breath harshly, but soon she smiled again and offered Shaw a hand and Shaw couldn’t deny a chance to touch the woman, could she? So she shook her head, her fingers grazing against the woman’s soft skin and again, she didn’t have a fetish, but this woman was just amazing and soft. “I don’t believe we’ve met. My name is Root,” she smiled flirtatiously and Shaw almost smiled back. Almost.

“What kind of name is that?” She asked instead, trying not to sound too curious – which she wasn’t. This woman didn’t interest her at all. But her revealing dress blue dress was really attractive. And her chest too. And her hips, her waist... Shaw shook her head, realizing she had been staring and from the look on the woman’s face, she noticed it too.

“It’s a name I chose for myself. I like it, don’t you?” Shaw huffed, shaking her head. No, she didn’t like it. She loved it. But she wouldn’t admit that out loud. “Well, it’s a shame.” She seemed to be actually offended and Shaw felt almost bad for that. Almost.

“Ahem,” Ben interrupted them and Shaw rolled her eyes, annoyed. “Root, Shaw, I needed to talk to you. I have an offer, a job for you and a few more people.” He eyed them, his doe eyes piercing them through and Shaw avoided his gaze, deciding to focus on Root’s attentive eyes instead. So big, so gorgeous. Shaw wanted Root to look at her, not at the ugly man in front of them. “But I want you to sit down, please.”

Root smirked and sat right next to Shaw, her bare thighs touching the fabric of Shaw’s pants and Shaw adverted her gaze. “I’m all ears,” she chirped and Shaw wanted to strangle her for being so close, but also didn’t seem to mind too much.

“My organization, the Dharma Initiative-,” he started, but Root interrupted him. “The Dharma Initiative has been closed since 1992 and from what I recall, it’s your fault. You caused an event called “The Purge”, which killed everyone from the Dharma Initiative, including your father. But... There’s one thing the files seem to obscure. How did your father die? His body wasn’t found with the others in the village, so where did he die? Who killed him?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Ben smirked and Root grinned back at him, laying a hand on Shaw’s thigh unconsciously. Shaw froze, patting the hand away. Root noticed and glanced at Shaw, her gaze lingering on Shaw’s lips.

“Anyway, the organization I come from found an Island in the Atlantic that needs protecting,” he said.

“It’s an island, why would we protect it?” Shaw snorted, glancing at Root, hoping for some support, but the woman didn’t seem to agree.

“What do you mean by protecting?” Root asked instead and Shaw frowned.

“I mean fighting against anyone who tries to harm it. Keep it safe,” he explained and the other woman nodded, considering the offer. Shaw thought about it too. But protecting an island? What for?

“Do we get to use guns?” She asked instead, finally glancing at the man and he smiled, nodding. Of course they would use guns. In that case... “I’m in.”

Root besides her shifted and smiled widely, winking with both eyes at Shaw. “In that case, I am too,” she said, staring at Shaw instead of Ben and Shaw felt like she was being undressed with the woman’s eyes. And she would rather the woman would do that with her hands, thank you very much.

“In this case, women, I need you to drink this. But not right away. My friend here, Richard, is going to lead you to the docks. You can drink this only then,” he said and gave them two pills each. Root smirked, taking the four pills to hand Shaw the other two.

“We’ll see you, then, Benjamin Linus,” Root smiled and with that said, she stood up and patted her dress, adjusting it. She waited for Shaw to follow her and Shaw huffed, annoyed.

They went out of the office and Shaw saw Ben standing in front of some grey-haired, tall man. He was again wearing the Harold Finch clothes and she wondered how on earth did he do that. But before she could say anything, Root leaned to whisper something in her ear and Shaw froze. “That man you see, the grey-haired one? His name is John and he says his last name is Reese, but who believes him anyway? He worked for the CIA as a trained assassin, but they tried to kill him two years ago. He’s been working for Benjamin Linus ever since.”

“And why is he talking to Ben like he doesn’t know him?” Shaw asked, not daring to look at the woman. She noticed that Richard had stopped walking, but she couldn’t care less.

“Ben? That’s not Ben. Honestly, I don’t know who he is, there’s no records of him anywhere. His last alias was Harold Wren, but I doubt that’s his real name,” she said all-knowingly and Shaw found herself once again being impressed by her knowledge. “Richard Alpert in front of us, on the other hand, is a great man indeed. I still don’t know why he went back to working with Ben, but they have a past together and honestly, who cares?”

“Not me,” Shaw huffed annoyingly and Root smiled, touching Shaw’s forearm. “Stop touching me.”

“Ruh-roh. No need to be rude, I was just telling you what I know,” she grinned and Sameen knew very well that she knew way more. “Well, a part of what I know.”

“We need to move, ladies,” Richard said and Shaw rolled her eyes, but thanked him mentally for that interruption, because Root finally took a step back, abandoning Shaw’s personal space.

They walked in silence, which the Persian woman was very grateful for, but as she observed her surroundings, she honestly couldn’t understand why her. She was an ex-assassin, of course, but she wasn’t that desperate to protect an effing Island. And all of these people seemed to be desperate. Or crazy. Root had to be both, she reasoned.

As they entered an elevator, Root nonchalantly let Shaw pass before her, blatantly staring at Shaw’s ass in the process. Shaw rolled her eyes, but didn’t say anything, knowing it would get her a flirtatious retort and Richard was in the elevator with them, so it would lead to literally nothing.

Before they could close the elevator, a woman hurried to the door and raised her hand to apologize. She was really beautiful with her wavy brown hair and brown eyes, but she was older than Root and Shaw started comparing them in her mind, before she could stop herself. “New to the Island, huh?” She asked and her voice was nice, Shaw noticed. “I’m Zoe Morgan,” she said, smiling and Shaw glanced at Root who raised her eyebrows knowingly.

“Zoe Morgan, huh? I know you. I like your business. Why are you here?” Root asked and Shaw cocked her head to a side, frowning. Did Root literally know everybody here?

“Who are you? And I’m here for a job offer. My business was running slow lately and when an old friend called me, telling me I would like this job and what can a girl do, when a man is as handsome as he is?” She grinned and Shaw rolled her eyes in response. She could kick that man’s ass, that’s what she could do.

“Oh, then the story between you and John Reese isn’t just a rumour,” Root retorted. Shaw didn’t even know how to react anymore, just standing very close to Root and eyeing the other woman warily.

“I didn’t say the friend was John Reese,” Zoe noticed but Root stared at her knowingly and Zoe rolled her eyes. Root had won this round, Shaw noticed. She didn’t like the victorious grin on Root’s face.

“Well, I know a few ways you can take it off me,” Root winked – with both eyes, again – and Shaw realized she had said that out loud. Way to go, Shaw.

“Oh, so your name is Root!” Zoe nodded, but she didn’t seem to know a Root to match Root’s face. She didn’t seem to know a Root at all. “And you must be Sameen Shaw, isn’t that right? I’ve heard so much about you from John!”

Shaw frowned, taken aback by the confession. She didn’t even know John. “Oh, yes, he told me you didn’t know him. His employer, Ben, is a great fan of your work so I think that’s how he knows you.” Ben? A fan of her work? Shaw hoped her face didn’t show her confusion at all.

“Well, now that we’ve introduced ourselves-,” Shaw started saying, but the elevator rang and Richard made his way between them, so they had to follow him, they’re conversation cut short. She felt a hand on her butt and she closed her hands in fists, ready to punch anyone who touched her, but the hand was soon off and she found Root’s face again as close as possible to hers.

“My offer stands,” she said, her voice low and Shaw couldn’t deny that she liked that. She liked that very much.

“What offer?” She asked, pretending to be annoyed. She realized they had stopped again just because of the two of them and she moved away from Root, deciding to give Zoe a chance.

“I’m not good at chemistry, but I think the two of you are a great compound,” Zoe winked and Shaw shook her head, disbelief creeping into her. She moved away from her and stood silent all the way to the docks, although she could hear Root and Zoe chatter behind and she could swear she caught them saying her name several times. Schoolgirls.  
They reached a big, elegant port and Zoe whistled, impressed. Shaw was impressed too, but she didn’t show it and Root was already chattering about the width of the sub-marine and the physics and something else Shaw couldn’t quite understand. The woman was a walking Wikipedia. A beautiful one at that.

“Here, I’m afraid we have to part. But don’t worry, there’ll be men waiting for you on the Island. Men we recruited. Some, you might know. Some, are from my past and I’m sure Root here knows them anyway,” Richard said as a teen boy approached him, handing him three glasses of water which Shaw, Zoe and Root accepted gratefully. They swallowed the pills they were given earlier and before she could react, she was drifting off...


	2. Chapter 2

#####  **Day 1**

#####  **Somewhere In The Pacific, The Island**

#####  _**5:45PM** _

 

 

 Shaw woke up with a headache and felt cold metal against her skin. It was dark and she shot up immediately, banging her head against the low ceiling. She cursed and heard someone cursing back at her, displeased.

She tried to get off the bunk-bed, but someone stopped her harshly, forcing her back in the bed and she felt the sting of a syringe in her neck, before she drifted off again.

When she woke up again, she noted that there was a bit of light creeping into the room and she observed her surroundings. She was in a submarine and her head was not pounding anymore from the headache.

She stepped carefully from the bunk bed and noticed that she was alone. Not for long. Soon, a man with a chart approached her and asked her for her name, which she immediately told him, wanting nothing more than to get out. He nodded, finding her name on the list and she huffed, immediately following him outside.

She saw tiny stairs up the submarine and went up, breathing in the fresh air of the port. It was great. As she stepped out, a feminine hand with black-painted nails tried to help her, but she refused it, helping herself out and almost falling. The person who offered her the hand helped her get out and as she clumsily stumbled off the submarine, she recognized Root. Of course it would be Root, she rolled her eyes.

“What, they already put you on the post to help people out the submarines?” She snarled. She cursed at herself in her mind as she realized she didn’t actually want it to sound so harsh. Root didn’t seem to be taken aback.

“Only you, Sameen,” she whispered, winking with both her eyes. “I noticed you had to stay two hours longer than all of us because they sedated you again, so I decided to wait for you here. We won’t start working until tomorrow anyway.”

“Oh, really?” Shaw huffed, only then deciding to look at her surroundings. She was indeed on an Island. A big one it seemed. She could see a village from her point of view and the forest was enormous. It was all so wild and uncertain and she didn’t like mystery, but this felt like more. This felt like an adventure.

“Yeah. We have all day just for us,” she grinned and Shaw shook her head. Unbelievable.

“We’ve just met, Root, so if you don’t mind, I don’t really want to be spending time with a stranger,” she said and Root raised her eyebrows, gazing deeply into Shaw’s eyes. She felt uncomfortable with that, adverting her gaze.

“But you see, we’re all strangers here,” Root noticed and Shaw had to agree her. Of course she had to. This woman literally seemed to know and notice everything. Hot and clever. Two qualities she greatly admired.

“And anyway, we’re definitely going to be spending time together. Because, you see, I might have asked Hugo to let us have the night patrol together and...,” Root trailed off, but Shaw had heard enough anyway. She huffed, glaring at the woman. She was smirking and Shaw wanted to punch that smirk off her. Or maybe kiss it away.

“I’m not going anywhere with you,” Shaw said, staring at Root challengingly.

“We’ll see,” Root smiled and left before Shaw could react at all, her hips swaying and Shaw found herself staring at her ass until she disappeared. She had a nice ass.

She finally breathed and noticed the same guy from before, now wearing a button-up shirt and a tie. She frowned, confused. The man before was certainly wearing a t-shirt, wasn’t he? Only then she noticed the actual guy from before and she raised her eyebrows. Identical twins weren’t exactly her favourites.

“I’m Leon Tao and this is... my doppelganger, Miles Straume,” Leon said with a joking tone. The man beside him rolled his eyes and huffed.

“Yeah, this Doc here is my brother. Honestly, I have no idea how, but okay. I literally met myself as a child and there was no ‘you’ there, but okay,” Miles snorted and Shaw frowned. He saw himself as a child? Like in a movie?

“I’m no Doc. I had no job and they hired me because I needed money. Which leads me to think that we’re actually very much alike at that too,” Leon retorted.

“I’m sorry to interrupt, but is there any point to this conversation?” Shaw noticed, annoyed. Miles nodded.

“Yeah, of course. Here’s your work schedule,” he handed her a chart and she glanced down at it. “You will only work at night for patrols around the perimeter of Dharmaville. For missions, you’ll have to go deeper into the island, but that’s not gonna be a problem, as it turns out you have a past in the field work. Your partner is gonna change every night, unless you want to make a special request? Here it says that a certain Root requested your presence on her patrols every night, but unless you explicitly agree to that as well, we can’t force anything upon you.” Shaw sighed, as she realized he didn’t actually have to work with Root.

“No, I don’t have a request for now,” she admitted.

“Well, then your first patrol tomorrow is gonna be with Zoe Morgan,” Leon interrupted them and Shaw raised her eyebrow, as she was sure she would get to work with Root. Well, she didn’t mind Zoe and honestly, she didn’t want her patrol with Root turn into anything else. “Also, you should know that no phones are allowed here. Only walkie-talkies and radios. We don’t want any contact with the outside world.”

She nodded, more to herself than to them and glanced at them expectantly. They got the hint and waved at her to follow them, which she did.

She kept looking around herself. The water was candid and the fresh breeze from it was great. The smell of salt and fish was enough to make her hungry and she cursed, hoping she would get anything to eat soon.

She could hear birds chirping around her, the trees going up high and the walk wasn't bad. Sure, a bit tiring, but not bad or long. As they reached the opening of the village, she also heard cows mooing. What did they need to protect this island from? It literally seemed to be the happiest place ever. But she realized, many things seem peaceful until hell breaks loose. This was the calm before the storm.

Shaw wasn’t a fan of calm surroundings, she preferred getting her gun and shooting everyone, but this place was beautiful. It was different.

“This is going to be your house,” Miles showed her a small yellow house and he handed her the key to it. Shaw wasted no time before she was already pushing the door and relishing in the sight of her new house. Well, she only saw the living room and the kitchen was almost in sight too and she could see a corridor in the middle as well. “It has two bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchen, a living room and also a locker in which you can put anything you like.” But Shaw was already on that, grinning widely as she looked at the locker. It was already full of guns and other deadly things and she could not hold her excitement in.

She approached a shelf full of big rifles and her eyes lit up. She tested the weight of the closest one and it was perfect. She was going to have so much fun here.

She noticed there was still lots of empty space for her to put anything she liked and she already loved this room.

“There’s also a training room, by the way,” Leon called out. Shaw spared a last glance to the locker room and went out of it, following the sound of Leon’s voice. She found him in the living room and frowned, because she had expected him to be in the training. What a bummer.

“Well, show me where,” she gritted and Leon must have recognized her tone as threatening, because he immediately shot up and led her through to the corridor. He found a small key and turned it in the lock and then he opened the door, revealing stairs that led down. She was confused, but she wouldn’t admit it out loud. Besides, Leon was on the move again and she had to follow him.

As they reached the room downstairs, it was dark and Shaw waited a while until Leon found the switch and turned on the lights.

The room was a disaster. She had imagined better, but it was vast and full of equipment for training. There were at least five mattresses and a lot of different weights.  
The problem was that everything was literally on the floor, broken or somehow damaged and she glared at Leon who had a weird look on his face. He seemed to be both sorry and preoccupied.

“Well, I thought they cleaned it up,” he explained and Shaw frowned, rolling her eyes. Great training room. “I can send someone to help you clean it up! But not today. We let you adjust to your house for a week, until we send people to clean it up. Your sheets will be changed weekly too and anything you need-,” she interrupted him.

“Will be refilled weekly, I get it,” Shaw muttered and Leon nodded. She didn’t want to be in this room anymore. It was full of dust and it suffocated her. She started going up the stairs without saying anything and Leon followed her, turning off the lights.

When they exited the room, he locked it and handed her the small key and she took it from his hand hastily, hiding it in her bra. His eyebrows shot up, surprised and she looked around herself, searching for Miles.

She saw him standing in her living room, texting to someone. She raised her left eyebrow. She remembered well that they had told her that there would be no cell phones here. As she approached, he tried to hide it, but she snatched it from his hand, hitting him on his upper arm hardly. He let out a yelp, but she didn’t say anything, looking down at the cell phone in her hands. She wasn’t good at this sort of thing, but she knew it wasn’t some cheap phone from the first store around and she glared at Miles, expecting an explanation.  
Miles was about to say something, but Leon pushed him and said, “Geez, and I thought I was the dumb one.” Shaw sighed, glaring at both of them and Leon smiled apologetically, before leaving the house.

“Sorry, Grumpy Face, but I think this is mine,” said Miles and Shaw handed him the phone, but she kept looking at him, until he left and even then she watched the door intently, waiting. But nothing happened and she decided to let it go. She didn’t need a phone anyway, didn’t even like phones. She just didn’t like it when people lied to her.

She sat on the couch, noticing only now a big TV in front of her and she found the remote, deciding that if she had a day off and her training room sucked, she could at least waste time on something a bit entertaining.

 

*

 

It wasn’t entertaining at all. After three hours of laying on the couch and watching some stupid Dharma Initiative videos, she decided she could get out of the house. She hated laying still and this was getting way too boring. She couldn’t wait for the next day when she would start working. Sure, this place didn’t look like it needed protecting, but to hell with that. She would get to hold a rifle and maybe kill some people. Or at least shoot.

She locked her house and tied her hair up, looking around herself. The lights were still on in most of the houses and she couldn’t blame them. It wasn’t late yet, after all, but it was quite dark already. She bit her lower lip and after taking a few long breaths, she started running around the whole park. It was gorgeous and the grass was a bit too long, but she figured they cut it weekly, just like everything else apparently.

She closed her eyes for a while, relishing in the fresh air on her hot skin, but not for long. Soon, someone was touching her and she punched the person, without looking, but almost missed, deciding to tackle them instead. Only then she opened her eyes and saw Root. Of course it would be Root.

She should’ve gotten up, of course, but she just stood there, straddling Root’s hips and Root smirked. “You know, when I thought about my offer, I imagined to be the one on top...”

Shaw huffed, glaring at her. Root was beautiful even like this, though. Her face was flushed and her lips were parted and Shaw almost wanted to close the distance between them. Almost.

Instead, she got up and helped Root up as well, rolling her eyes. “Don’t do that again.”

“Do what again?” Root grinned widely and Shaw avoided her gaze. This woman may be beautiful, but she was also getting on her nerves.

“Just don’t,” Shaw snapped and Root raised her eyebrows, surprised. Shaw felt kind of disappointed that the woman didn’t just say anything else, but she figured it was better like that.

Root didn’t leave though, even though she seemed to be quite silent now. Shaw thought of running again, but with the woman beside her, she didn’t feel comfortable about that. Besides, she could already feel Root’s stare boring through her clothes, undressing her with her eyes.

“Stop staring,” Shaw gritted and Root pouted, but didn’t stop staring. Her gaze actually went down, to Shaw’s ass and Shaw avoided her gaze, waiting for the woman to stop.  
When it seemed like the woman wasn’t going to stop and Shaw was about to give up, Root smirked and turned to look at their surroundings.

“I think this place is beautiful, you?” She said mind-absently and Shaw huffed, because she didn’t do small talk, but it looked like Root wouldn’t give up. “These houses... They’ve been rebuilt, you can see that from the furniture and all. Probably something bad happened. Maybe explosion. That house there,” she pointed at the farthest house and Shaw glanced at it, but didn’t see anything suspicious about it, “it’s the only one they didn’t rebuild. Look at it. It’s older than the others. Smaller, too. And the porch is so tiny... I mean, look at all the other houses. The porches are big, really. But that one is tiny. Just about enough for a person to stand or maybe sit with a small chair.”

Shaw nodded. She really didn’t like small talk, but the woman seemed to be really interested in this and Shaw found herself interested too, staring at her. The woman was truly beautiful. Her eyes were big, her nose long, but really cute and her lips were really red. Shaw fought hard against her instincts to kiss her.

“But the newest one is this,” Root pointed at Shaw’s house and from the look on her face, she didn’t seem to know it was Shaw’s house. And she wasn’t going to tell her. “It’s the most yellow of all. The colour is brighter and the porch is so damn big, I could literally put a bed there. The wood is tricky, because it’s from an old tree, which makes me think they cut some trees here to rebuild it. I think this was the most damaged one. Maybe it had been exploded? Who knows. Ben probably does, of course. The other guy must too.” Shaw frowned. What other guy? “Hugo Reyes.” Oh, of course Shaw had said it out loud. “He’s the boss here. It was his idea to rebuild Dharmaville and build other towns too. There was plenty of space anyway and he wanted people to feel free around here, until...,” her voice faltered and Shaw glared at her, because the woman seemed to want a bit of suspense. “Until HR happened.”

“HR?” Shaw asked, but Root seemed to be uncomfortable about this and instead of answering, Root left.

She turned to wink at Shaw and said, “Good night,” before she left for good. Shaw tried to follow her with her gaze, but the woman entered a way too dark and soon disappeared. Shaw huffed, cursing herself and Root, because now she was full of questions and she wasn’t sure who would give her answers, if not Root.

“Good night my ass,” she grumbled, jogging to her house. As soon as she entered it, she took off her clothes and went to the bathroom, not bothering to close the door of it. She took a quick shower, then went to the bedroom naked, realizing she didn’t have anything to put on. Luckily for her, in the drawers, she found some clothes and underwear and she put some black boxers and a tank top on.

She went to the kitchen and found a beer and a burger in the fridge. She ate quickly, not bothering to heat up the burger and she washed her hands, before going back to the bedroom.

She slipped into the big double bed and thought of sleeping, but it was still quite early, so she slipped out of it again, doing some push-ups instead. When she was satisfied, she slipped into the bed again and this time she didn’t even need to think about it, because she fell asleep as soon as she closed her eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked this chapter!  
> It was still more of an introduction, more than anything, but I tried to show you a part of the main plot anyway. Well, the original main plot anyway.  
> Also, in the next chapter there's going to be the first patrol, so I hope you like the Zoe/Shaw/Root interactions!.


	3. Chapter 3

#####  **Day 2**

#####  **Somewhere In The Pacific, The Island**

#####  _**12:16 PM** _

 

 

“There was no lunch in my fridge,” Shaw gritted, glaring at the woman beside her.

“Is that why you sat next to me?” Root tried to wink, but failed and Shaw rolled her eyes.

“You sat next to me,” Shaw pointed out but Root only grinned, stealing a fry from Shaw’s plate. Shaw patted her hand, but Root was quicker and was already chewing the fry. “No stealing my food. I don’t share.”

“No exceptions for me?” The woman pouted and Shaw glared at her, annoyed. She woke up early this morning for a run and after that, ate breakfast, but for lunch she realized there was literally nothing in her fridge. Nothing for lunch. Lucky for her, Zoe left her a note saying that if she wanted, she could join her for lunch. Only, when she actually got the lunch room, Zoe was nowhere in sight and after she ordered her food, Root sat next to her.

“I literally don’t know you,” she noticed and Root leaned closer to Shaw, touching her upper arm, but Shaw shrugged her off, glaring at her.

“Care to change that?” Root whispered and Shaw looked up at her, annoyed. No, she didn’t. She didn’t care about anything. But the idea of knowing this woman better seemed to be a bit entertaining. Or at least give into the flirting. But that would mean getting involved and Shaw immediately shook that idea off.

“No,” she said instead and Root raised her eyebrows, but didn’t move away.

“I know a few ways to remove all the anger you have on your shoulders…,” she murmured right into Shaw’s ear and the smaller woman almost shivered at the sound of Root’s husky voice so close to her. Root’s breath was on her skin and she could hear herself swallow hardly. But she kept her face stony, deciding against it. She wasn’t going to give into some stupid flirting, just because the person was extremely hot and clever and seemed to know what to say to send shivers down Shaw’s back.

“I’m not angry,” she hissed, but before Root could say anything witty, Shaw heard someone clearing their throat and she saw Zoe standing in front of the table with a big grin on her lips.

“I’m sorry I’m late,” Zoe said and sat in front of Shaw, eyeing her and Root cautiously. Shaw almost thought she would be too afraid to say anything, but the woman opened her mouth to speak and Shaw already knew what she would say. “I see you two are already getting to know each other.”

“Not willingly,” Shaw grumbled, glaring at Root who only grinned and returned to her sad salad.

“I think you’re cute. The Ying to the Yang,” Zoe winked and Shaw sighed exasperated. This was getting annoying. “Anyway, I can’t wait for our patrol together!”

“Your first patrol is with her? I’ve got Finch!” Root whined and Shaw eyed her warily. “Do you want to switch, Zoe? I’ll give you Finch and you give me Shaw?”

“I’m not an object, nobody ‘gives’ me to anybody,” Sameen stated, but deep down she didn’t mind this proposition. She didn’t mind Root as much as she should.

“Oh, no, no way. I heard Finch is a literal nerd. And aren’t you guys on the monitoring post anyway? At the Pearl?” Pearl? Shaw watched them suspiciously. What was the Pearl anyway? “I heard that station sucks. I need to get into action, hold a real rifle and all.”

“I like your way of thinking,” Shaw agreed with her. “But if there’s a monitoring station, what are we patrolling anyway?”

“The Pearl is just an experiment station, honestly. It controls all the other stations. I don’t know if they modified it or anything, but I think now it controls all Dharmaville, instead of the other stations. So while you patrol the outside area, we control what everyone does on the inside. We can see everything,” Root explained and Shaw once again admired her knowledge. How did a person know so much? “There are other stations meant for checking the outside area, though. There are at least four people there, checking the monitors and if they see anything suspicious, they call the person that patrols that area.”

“So they can see everything we do at our posts?” Shaw needed a confirmation and Root nodded. “No running away then, huh?”

“Well, if you want to run away, just tell me... I know my way around electronic devices and I could hack into their computers, creating a loop for you, so that it would look that you’re still at the post, even though you would be... wherever else,” Root proposed and Zoe whistled, admiring Root’s proposition.

“If you can do that, please, do. If Shaw wants to run away, I’m joining her,” Zoe smirked and Root grinned happily. Shaw just sat there, silently watching them.

“Maybe I can manage to join you too, if Harold is too much of a pain in the ass,” Root smiled and Shaw eyed her angrily. She really didn’t mind her that much, but there was no way in hell she was running away somewhere with that woman, at least not when Zoe was with them.

“Oh, you need to help me with that,” Zoe leaned to Root and Shaw frowned, confused, but Zoe didn’t seem to want to do anything. “Why are Harold and Ben literally... the same? Why do they look the same?” Root didn’t answer that. She grinned and finished her salad. Zoe and Shaw both huffed in annoyance as Root left them.

When she was already quite far away from the other two, Root turned and said, “see you tonight, Sameen,” clearly only interested in Shaw.

“Sounds like a date,” Zoe chuckled but Shaw glared at her and Zoe shut up, locking her lips with an imaginary key. “You should really try smiling, it won’t hurt you.” Shaw rolled her eyes in response. “Now, I need to go talk to Carter, but you get ready for tonight. If I can, I’ll convince Carter to join us as well, it’ll be fun.”

They were women over thirty and they planning on running away from their place of work. It was really immature, but she liked it anyway. Besides, she didn’t mean to run away forever. Just for a few hours, to explore. Standing on patrol wasn’t her thing anyway.

 

*

 

She got through the day waiting impatiently for their running away party and as soon as the clock hit a quarter to eight, she took a rifle from her locker room. She also decided to hide a gun near her ankle.

She was wearing her uniform: it was all grey and it had a small Dharma sign on the left side. It didn’t fit and it looked horrible on her, but she wore it anyway.

She was about to get out of the house, when someone knocked on the door. She raised her rifle and warily opened the door, revealing Zoe. She was wearing the same uniform as Shaw and she was glaring at Shaw’s rifle. She was holding one too.

“So, you ready?” She asked and Shaw rolled her eyes in response, but she followed her out of the house. They passed next to the other houses. Somewhere, Shaw spotted other guards and she reminded herself that they weren’t the only ones. Some of the guards were wearing navy blue uniforms, but she didn’t question that.

The lights were still on in most of the houses and the chatter from the other guards wasn’t too loud, which made her feel kind of at home. She’s only been here for two days, but she really liked it here. It was peaceful and people were good. But she couldn’t wait for some action. She needed to hit someone.

They were about to cross the wooden fence, when someone stopped them.

“I’ve got something for you guys,” Root grinned, shoving earplugs in their hands and Shaw glared at her. That woman was fucking everywhere. “I noticed you didn’t ask for the password.” Shit, she had forgotten and apparently Zoe had too. “That wouldn’t have been a nice experience for you, I assure you. It’s a sonar fence and the pylons generate a stream of high-intensity sound waves. They can cause severe cerebral haemorrhaging which can lead to death or at least unconsciousness. It’s really unpleasant.”

“And what are the earplugs for?” Shaw asked, pretending to understand. Once again, Root seemed to know everything anyway.

“I don’t know,” Root admitted and Zoe laughed, surprised. Shaw frowned. “Well, I don’t know the technical explanation of it. I think it just slows down the sound waves, letting the person who plugs them in pass through, without causing any damage to the brain. They’re really useful and almost everyone has them. I thought I would bring them to you, because I knew you would forget them... and remember, safety first.” She said as she helped Shaw put them on. Shaw huffed at how close the woman was to her and glared at Zoe, but the other woman didn’t say anything, just smirking knowingly.

“Will you help me put them on too?” Zoe eventually asked and Shaw thought Root would say something back, but she just stared at Shaw, smirking. Shaw found herself drawn to Root’s eyes as well. They were boring into her and she just wanted to close the distance between them, but she figured it wouldn’t be wise, so she shook her head and cleared her throat. Zoe immediately came to her rescue, taking her by the arm. She apologized to Root and then left, still holding Shaw by the arm. As soon as they were out of Root’s sight, Shaw shook her hand off and rolled her eyes, annoyed.

They stepped through the pylons and nothing truly happened and they weren’t sure if it was because of the earplugs, or because there was nothing that was supposed to happen to them. Either way, they were alive.

“You should kiss her, you know. It doesn’t matter that you’ve only known each other two days,” Zoe winked and Shaw frowned deeply. “I slept with John the same day I met him.” Oh, hell no, Shaw didn’t need to know that.

She held her rifle ready as they stopped in the spot where they knew the cameras were. She didn’t know how Root planned on telling them to go, but she guessed she would find a way. Maybe Morse code, or something else as secret.

“All I’m saying, Shaw, is she’s hot and you’re hot and she obviously wants to fuck you and it seems like you do too, so why don’t go for it? It’s not like I’m telling you to have feelings for her,” she pointed out and Shaw glared at her. Who even thought of feelings here? Feelings were for other people. Shaw didn’t have feelings, she had an Axis II Disorder which meant that she didn’t feel anything.

“I don’t want to fuck her,” she mumbled, but she didn’t sound convinced and Zoe just grinned at her beamingly.

“ _Nevada Oscar Wyoming_ ,” someone said in Shaw’s ear and then started repeating and from the look on Zoe’s face, it did in hers too. She frowned, but tried to figure out what it meant.

“NOW,” she whispered and Zoe tilted her head to a side confused. “The message. It says now,” she explained and Zoe nodded, finally understanding. The message stopped coming and they left their posts, moving further into the forest.

It was dark and Shaw couldn’t exactly see what was surrounding her, but it was all trees, branches, leaves and she could hear them making more noises than necessary.

Then, she heard a clatter and she charged her rifle immediately, pointing at the person standing in front of her. The woman held her hands up high and laughed. She had a nice laugh. Shaw couldn’t tell if she was pretty too, because it was too dark, but she figured she had to be.

“And here I thought I would come up and say hi without someone trying to kill me,” the woman said and approached them. Shaw shot Zoe a glare and it seemed like Zoe was tense, so Shaw prepared her rifle, ready to shoot. “Joss told me you were planning on running away and I just thought it’d be fun if I joined you...” She tried to approach Shaw, moving closer, but Shaw adjusted the rifle, pointing exactly at the woman’s chest. Zoe seemed to be worried.

“Move closer and I shoot,” she warned her. The woman shrugged, but moved away anyway. Shaw figured the woman wasn’t in the mood for dying.

“Tsk, tsk. I’m just here to bring you a message,” the woman said and Shaw glared at her. “Joss Carter says hi.”

“Carter would never, you bitch!” Zoe called after her, but the woman had already disappeared in the dark bushes.

“Carter? Wasn’t that your friend?” Shaw noticed and Zoe glanced at her. Her eyes were wide open and she didn’t seem to be pleased by the conversation.

“They have her. And if they do... That means no one’s safe.” Shaw frowned, cocking her head to a side.

“Who has her? And what the hell do you mean?” She asked. She was angry, because she let that woman walk away without questioning. She was angry, because she didn’t know what was going on and apparently everyone else seemed to know everything.

“HR has her,” Root said behind her and Shaw turned around, mad at her for appearing so late. “And she means they kidnapped her.”

“If they kidnapped her, why did they tell us? How does that make sense? And why even bother kidnapping her, when they could just kill her?” Root smiled down at her, moving closer to her.

“You’re cute when you’re angry,” she whispered only for Shaw to hear and the smaller woman moved away. She didn’t have time for innuendos. “They told us, because they think they can beat us. It doesn’t make sense, but that’s how they work,” she paused for a second, thinking about the other questions. “I think they didn’t kill her, because Joss is too important.”

“Important? How?” Shaw asked, staring at Root. The woman was glowing. Literally. The moonlight just made her paler and even more beautiful. She even looked hotter in the uniform.

“She’s the Head of Security. Hugo hired her six years ago, back when they were recruiting their first people to live here. She was a cop and ex-soldier and she fit perfectly here. Hugo and Ben made her Head of Security as soon as she got here. Everything she does, follows the rules. Only, the rules change and after meeting John, she became more human. Or rather, she started to change the rules herself,” Root explained and Shaw cursed under her breath when she realized she had been staring for way too long.

“Yeah, and thanks to Johnny dear, I got to meet her before I got here, so we’re kind of friends now. She even wanted to join us today,” Zoe added and Root smiled, touching Shaw’s shoulder lightly, but before Shaw could snatch her hand off, it was already back on Root’s waist and Shaw saw Root pull out a gun quicker than she had ever seen anyone do, pointing at someone who just appeared.

“Is it a tradition that every new group of recruits finds a way to breach our system and get out for their first walk through the jungle?” Ben asked, raising his hands in defeat. He was dressed in a white button shirt and black pants and he didn’t seem to be here by accident. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell Hugo, although I doubt he doesn’t know already. Even if he did know, he wouldn’t be mad. He once ended in prison just because he thought he’d seen a ghost.” Shaw raised her eyebrows. Who was that Hugo anyway?

“Hugo is probably the nicest person I’ve ever met, I doubt he would do anything to us even if he were mad,” Root pointed out and Ben smirked.

“I suppose you’re right. But you haven’t seen him run a guy down with an old Dharma Initiative van, just because he and other people that worked for me, tried to kill his friends,” the man smiled sadly, as if he regretted his old actions. Shaw couldn’t care less, but the man did seem to have a dark past.

“Hugo Reyes and Benjamin Linus have a dark past,” Root shrugged. “No news to me.”

“Our past is our past, though, isn’t it? You, Root, are the first to talk, after all, aren’t you?” Root eyed him warily and Shaw moved closer to her subconsciously trying to protect her. “I don’t want to ruin your reputation of an all knowing person, but you should know I’m all knowing too. And I’m not even a computer genius.”

“Hugo is all knowing. You’re just his number two,” Root snarled and Shaw heard Zoe whistle, impressed.

“I’m not _just_ his number two. I agreed to be that, to change for him, for the island. My job is to protect it,” Ben defended himself and Shaw couldn’t deny the strength of those words. “HR was supposed to protect it, but it didn’t. And it’s my fault, because I failed to stop that from happening. And they’re gaining manpower faster than we know. Hugo would love to intervene, but he can only do as much. We need you and Shaw and Zoe and everyone else to co-operate to take them down. HR is dangerous, but so are we. I just want you to think about my offer, Root.”

“What offer?” Shaw asked before she could even process her thoughts and Root smiled at her, but didn’t say anything to her.

“I’ll think about it,” she told Ben instead. “But don’t make me stay in the monitoring room anymore, Harold is boring.”

“I’ll consider that,” Benjamin promised and Shaw knew he wouldn’t. He would make Root work with Harold more than ever. Because whatever offer he had for her, it involved some of her talents and monitoring meant knowing, seeing, so maybe he wanted her to be their eyes and ears? “I have to go now. Root, Shaw, Zoe, it was nice having this chat with you.” He left without a sound. He knew this Island more than anyone and Shaw thought once again what in hell could he want from Root anyway. What more could he want, that he didn’t have?

“I didn’t even say a word,” Zoe murmured, disappointed. “But this was fun, right? We got to talk to our boss and he’s weird, but who isn’t here? Also, this forest? It’s amazing!”

“It’s a forest,” Shaw pointed out, annoyed.

“Yeah, but it’s full of cameras and we’re all being watched, literally everywhere. There’s always someone watching,” Zoe explained and Shaw sighed, not really interested.

“In a way, you’re right. But whoever’s watching doesn’t need cameras for that,” Root blurted out of the blue and Shaw gazed at her, confused. Zoe seemed to be confused too, as she watched Root intently, waiting for the woman to explain herself. “I just think there’s a more natural thing watching over us.”

“Oh yeah, because cameras everywhere weren’t bad enough. You had to make it more natural,” Shaw snapped, glaring at her. Root smiled sadly at her, but didn’t comment on that.

“Whatever it is, it’s not that cool anymore. What if I’m having sex with John in my house and an all-seeing thing is watching me? I call that no privacy! At least if it uses cameras, I can find them and use the tapes as sex tapes,” Zoe protested and Root let out a chuckle, amused by the fact that Zoe would only think about _that_. Shaw just glared at her, ignoring those stupid words.

“I like your way of thinking but I don’t agree. If I were to bed Shaw someday, I wouldn’t want anyone to watch,” she jested, winking with both eyes at Shaw. Shaw huffed and shook her head, resigned, but she had an idea.

“I’m sure if you bedded me, you wouldn’t even have to worry about that, as you would only be focused on me,” Shaw smirked. Two could play this game.

“Girls, as much as I love watching you flirt, we’re forgetting the main deal here,” Zoe scowled, smiling apologetically. “HR has Joss. We need to get her back.”

Root seemed to think about it for a while and then she looked at Zoe and shook her head. “No. She’ll be released tomorrow. They just want to question her, but once they’ll realize she won’t give them any information, they’ll send her back to us. Harmed, but alive. They’ll give her a message for us.”

“Remind me again how you get that kind of information?” Zoe asked and Root shook her head, smirking.

“I don’t think I ever told you in the first place,” she noticed and Zoe huffed. Shaw growled and rolled her eyes, but had to agree with Root. Root knew everything anyway so it’d be wise to stick up to her decisions for now.

“Care to tell us now?” Shaw looked at Root and found the other woman staring at her intently. Almost pleadingly. As if she couldn’t share. “Okay, whatever, don’t tell us. Just- provide us with information when we need it, okay?” Root nodded.

“That seems like a deal,” she grinned. Shaw liked it when Root grinned. She showed all of her teeth and her nose crinkled a little. It was cute and she liked it.

“Don’t grin, you look weird when you do that,” she said instead and Root only grinned wider. Shaw huffed, rolling her eyes.

This woman was the worst. Well, apart from HR trying to kill her, probably. She was the worst after that. And probably not even then. But she was bad.

She liked her.


	4. Chapter 4

#####  **Day 7**

#####  **Somewhere In The Pacific, The Island**

##### _**10:00 PM**_

 

 

After a week of working on the Island, Shaw could officially say if something suspicious or bad didn’t happen, it was a dull day. And there were no dull days.

Her first patrol had ended up with them going back to their houses, no exploring at all in the end and Shaw hadn’t gotten around doing that again. Besides, a day after that, Joss was truly returned. She was full of bruises, cuts, but she was not broken. She didn’t reveal anything, but she didn’t seem to be scared either. She was tough.

Now, it was time for the birthday party for her son, but her son was still captive and Shaw knew it wasn’t good. Everyone was already asking Carter too many things, forcing information out of her, but Shaw knew the woman wouldn’t risk harming her son. So she lied and lied and everyone was getting restless.

“They should give her a break,” Zoe said as she sipped her third glass of wine. She had a gorgeous black leather dress that embraced her gorgeous shapes perfectly. Shaw couldn’t deny that if Zoe were bisexual, she’d probably fuck her. But Root was next to her, literally just staring at her boobs and she couldn’t tell if she was hot because of the actual heat, or if because Root’s stare was causing her a reaction. “I wonder how she’ll play it today with the party and all. It’s still not candles time, but you know... People are already getting suspicious.”

“I just have a question,” Shaw added, turning to glance at Root and Root stared at her deeply, smiling. Shaw fidgeted, for a moment forgetting her question. The woman was wearing a gorgeous black dress, really loose and Shaw just wanted to rip it off her. Maybe she should stop drinking. Her gaze dropped and she looked at Root’s chest and lower and she felt herself lick her lips unconsciously. She needed this woman.

“What is it?” Zoe asked out of the blue, realising Shaw had already forgotten. Shaw cleared her throat, turning away from Root.

“What’s the point of all of this? Do they want to scare us?” Root laid a hand on Shaw’s waist and Shaw immediately moved away. She couldn’t give into that.

“That’s two questions. But I guess they have the same meaning, so... Well, the point is that if they harm her and then release her, people will know that they’re both good and evil. That they hurt their enemies, but they let them live. Also, they have her son,” Root smiled sadly and Zoe gasped, horrified. Shaw just stared blankly. “She went looking for him, that’s why she wanted to join you and that’s why she got caught. Nobody knows about this because he only arrived here a week ago and nobody got used to him yet. But this is his birthday party and if he doesn’t show up, people will start asking questions. She won’t have answers, because HR will be threatening her to kill him if she so much as says a wrong word and everyone will blame her. Maybe they’ll think she sold him out to save herself.” Root paused, looking around herself and sighing deeply. “She’s Head of Security. If people turn against her, they’ll turn against Hugo and Ben as well. HR will have people on the inside and will breach our system faster than we can imagine. Everyone who will be against them, will die or become a slave of their system.”

“And what’s their system made of, exactly?” Zoe asked.

“Their system is made of manpower, money and death. They’ll find a way to destroy this island and once they do that... There’ll be nothing to protect the entire world from evil spreading.” Root explained and Shaw snorted, rolling her eyes and shaking her head.

“Every system is made of that. There’s no difference between us and them and whatever HR actually does, it’s probably the same we do. We call it protecting? Well, I’m sure they do too,” Shaw pointed out. “I agree with you that they’ll do that and why, but- I’m here to protect this Island and I don’t know what from, but HR is not the big enemy. Whoever it is, find out.”

“Aggressive. I like it,” Root murmured, taking a sip of her cocktail. “Maybe you’re right.”

“That’s it? Maybe I’m right? Wow. Well, we need to get to Joss’ son and-,” Shaw noticed, but Root shook her head, putting a finger on the woman’s lips.

“No. That’s not what we need to do. They have cameras everywhere and they hear us. What we need to do, is be secretive. Find a way to defeat them without an act of war. We can’t risk the lives of innocent people, just because we don’t want to use a scalpel on this,” Root said.

“Scalpel? Like, scalpel is an elaborate plan and... a hammer, maybe, is shooting and killing immediately?” Root nodded and Zoe smiled, proud that she figured it out. “Well, I have to agree with Root. As much as it pains me, I know Joss doesn’t want a war. And Hugo and Ben neither.”

Shaw sighed, defeated. She adjusted her uncomfortable white dress and looked around herself. She frowned as she spotted a familiar face. It was Ben. Or Harold. She couldn’t tell.

“That’s Harold, sweetie,” Root whispered and Shaw glared at her. “He’s not as boring as I thought after all. He’s great at computers and he knows how to hack them even better than me. But he doesn’t get humans.”

“Well, what’s the problem with that?” Shaw noticed and Root smirked as she took a glass of champagne from the waiter and gave it to Shaw.

“The problem is that he thinks the world is black and white. He thinks humans should never use violence or they’ll become evil. He likes to think of himself as the good guy, but the more I look at him, the more he talks... I realize he’s just as bad as everybody else. But he wears a mask,” she said out loud so that Zoe could hear her and Shaw caught a glimpse of a smile on Zoe’s face, which meant she was listening. “On the other hand, Ben is changed.” Shaw furrowed her brows. Ben? “Ben uses violence if need be. He doesn’t shy away from a kill. He’s done so many bad things, Harold classifies him as the worst type of man. But what Harold fails to see is that Ben is also redeemed. Ben understood his mistakes and decided to change for the better. Ben isn’t Hugo’s second best because he has less capabilities; he’s his number two because he was a terrible leader. He was selfish and a coward and his daughter died because of that. Harold is a coward too; his friend Nathan Ingram died because Harold was scared that if they defended themselves, they would become evil.”

Zoe accidentally spilled her drink on Shaw as someone bumped on her, but Shaw ignored her, staring at Root who was so invested in telling her this story and Shaw just wanted to listen, that she hadn’t realized how close they were. The woman always looked so gorgeous when she talked.

“Ben never cared about that. But after he realize it was his cowardice that killed his daughter, he decided to change, care about people. Harold didn’t. So you see, that’s the difference between them. The difference is that Ben changed for good, Harold remained a coward. I’m not saying Ben is good, but he’s better now. I hope Harold can change too,” she said.

“You still haven’t explained why it’s bad that he doesn’t get humans or why the comparison to Ben anyway,” Zoe pointed out, now eating a mango.

“It’s bad because if we want to win this, we don’t need only Ben and Hugo to back us up. We need Harold too and if he doesn’t get humans, if he thinks that every action we make is wrong, then we’ve lost,” Root explained, but Zoe frowned and Shaw watched them silently.

“How so?” She asked.

“His moral compass points to the right direction. He follows the rules. Following the rules, he might do whatever anyone tells him to do. I’m afraid he’s already doing that unconsciously,” she admitted and Zoe tried to speak again, but Root interrupted her. “He’s been com-,” she started but she was hushed down by the loud beep of a microphone being turned on. “I compared them because you wanted to know the difference between them, so here it is.”

“You-,” Zoe tried to say, but the beep of the microphone interrupted them again, making Zoe huff in annoyance. She gave up on the conversation and looked up. Shaw did so too. This place was beautiful. They were at the docks that somehow became a stage now. Also, they put some tables and anyone could eat anything they wanted. It honestly didn’t feel like a birthday party for a kid. Whatever suited them, Shaw thought, as she sipped a glass of scotch.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to officially begin this party!” Ben announced and Shaw frowned, looking down at her drink. She thought it had started like two hours ago. “It’s in honour of Joss Carter’s son, Tyler. I wish you all fun and at midnight our guest will make his appearance!”

“How will they manage that?” Zoe asked and both Root and Shaw shrugged.

Shaw approached one of the tables and picked a steak. She moaned as she tasted it and she felt Root wrapping her arms around her. She already recognized Root anytime the woman approached her. Besides, nobody would dare. “I’d like it better if you moaned somewhere for a different reason. I know you would moan even louder,” she murmured in Shaw’s ear and the smaller woman could feel herself getting hotter at the thought. She could just turn around and kiss her. The woman literally invaded her personal space all the time as if they were a couple, but she thought against it.

“Oh, you could never make moan louder. Steak is better than sex,” she retorted and turned around to look at Root. The woman pushed her against the table and smirked, lowering her gaze to Shaw’s lips.

“Is that a challenge?” She mused, licking her lips. They were even redder that night, with a beautiful lipstick on them and Shaw could imagine the marks it would leave on her body.

She was about to close the distance between them – because fuck everything, this is worth it – when someone cleared their throat next to them and Root immediately moved away from Shaw. She was flushing all the way from her cheeks to her neck and the Persian woman thought it was hot. Her didn’t hug her shapes, but Shaw could anyway imagine how she looked underneath. She could feel Root’s gaze on her as well and she saw Root biting her lower lip.

“I’m sorry,” the person who had interrupted them before, interrupted them again. Shaw recognized Grace Hendricks. She was a sweet architect who designed all the houses and basically still designed anything they needed to build. She didn’t know more than that, because the woman didn’t do patrols and actually lived in the other town, called Dharma Town. “I need your signature on this,” she showed them a piece of paper and Shaw furrowed her brows, checking it. “I don’t really know what it is, but they asked me to get signatures from everyone.”

Root raised her eyebrows and took the paper from Grace’s hands. Shaw watched her intently as the woman read it. Root’s brows were furrowed and her lips were a thin line. There were some wrinkles on her forehead, but Shaw didn’t mind them.

“This says that anyone who signed this, wants Joss Carter to get thrown out of the island for treason. It says she gave up her son to save herself,” Root spat out, grossed out. Then, she flipped the page and her eyebrows shot up again and she gasped. “Someone said we should execute her, because we can’t spread evil in the world. _Patrick Simmons_ thinks that? He works for HR... Grace, tell me you didn’t have anything to do with this.”

Grace stared at Root, shocked and Shaw could tell the woman was as grossed out as Root was. Shaw didn’t feel anything about it, except anger, because this was wrong. “I- I didn’t read, I swear! I just did as I was told!”

“Who gave you this?” Shaw ripped the paper from Root’s hand, reading it quickly. It was full of bullshit and literally everyone agreed with what Patrick Simmons said. Shaw sighed. “If you don’t tell me when I ask you nicely, I’ll have to ask you violently.”

“Shaw,” Root warned her, laying a hand on Shaw’s tense shoulder and Shaw turned to her, angrily.

“She just spread a petition to kill a good woman who just wants her son back!” Shaw snarled, challenging Root with her glare. The taller woman shook her head and took the petition from Shaw’s hand, to rip it apart. Grace gasped, but Shaw knew Root didn’t care.

“And now the petition is gone,” Root retorted. “Grace, who gave you this? I’ll have to report this to Hugo and I would like to know who started it.”

“I don’t know. It was a woman. She had long, dark hair and- I think, brown eyes? Really dark. She was tall and- I don’t remember anything else,” Grace stuttered and Root nodded. It fit the description of the woman who visited Shaw and Zoe on that night of their first patrol, before Root arrived.

“Kara Stanton,” Root mused. “She’s Vice-Head of Security. She controls mainly the HR area. She’s really important and likes to kill people. She was John Reese’s partner back in his old days, when he worked as an assassin for the CIA. She trained him and then tried to kill him. They both ended up on the Island on the same day, but while he works for Hugo, she works for HR. And whoever’s the head of it.”

“So she wants Carter’s power? She wants to control all the Island and Carter is in the way, right?” Shaw inquired and Root nodded.

“I didn’t know,” Grace defended herself again, weakly and Root grimaced at her. “Can I go now?”

“Yeah, just go. I’ll tell Hugo what happened although I think he already knows. I doubt he’ll be mad. You didn’t know and I get it and he probably gets it too,” Root waved her off and the woman immediately walked away.

“I didn’t know you cared so much about the rules,” Shaw noticed.

“I don’t,” Root retorted, smirking. “And I’m not going to tell Hugo. But I needed to scare her nicely. You see, violence isn’t always the only way.”

“But it’s the most fun way,” Shaw grumbled and Root grinned happily.

“I agree,” she hummed. “There are also other funnier ways... But I don’t think she would’ve liked going to bed with me just for information.”

“You sleep with people for information?” The smaller woman frowned.

“Sometimes, when it’s necessary,” Root shrugged. “I mostly know everything anyway, but even computers can’t see everything and thus I can’t either.”

“You’re such a nerd,” Shaw huffed and the taller woman smiled, probably agreeing. Shaw couldn’t tell. She liked the way her conversations with Root weren’t at all boring. The woman always knew what to say, but she almost never said _everything_ she knew. If she didn’t want to say something, she usually left or changed the subject. Shaw could deal with that, although the woman could leave a girl unsatisfied acting the way she did.

“I’m a computer genius. A hacker. Not a nerd,” she corrected and Shaw rolled her eyes. “I’m also great at other things,” she looked down Shaw’s body and the shorter woman fidgeted. She just wanted to punch the woman or kiss her, or both and right away.

Lucky for her, Zoe grabbed her by the arm to show her some things and she went closer to the sea. She didn’t know what Zoe had interrupted her for, but she kind of appreciated the interruption. She didn’t know how long she could resist before jumping on Root.

The seaside was nice and it was already dark, but the dim light of the fire next to them made it all so magical. Shaw just stared at the water with the breeze from the sea making the air chilly. She could also feel her hair getting at least a tiny bit wet. Her hair didn’t really enjoy the seaside. She didn’t feel anything about it, but she didn’t mind it, that was all. Swimming was certainly fun and she enjoyed any kind of sports that could be practised on the water, but she hated just laying down to get a bit tanned. She was naturally tanned anyway and laying down, doing nothing was not her style.

She could bet Zoe would love it, the woman was literally so lazy she didn’t understand how she could get anything done in time at all. But she was good at solving problems and honestly, patrols with her were the best. She’s had one with John Reese and he was fun too. She didn’t like at all the one she had at the monitoring station with Harold, who was probably the most boring person she’s ever met. Apparently Miles Straume did patrols too and she ended up having one with him just two days ago. The guy was a total jerk and he kept making fun of her. She didn’t like him. Of the two twins, she preferred Leon Tao. Definitely.

As for Root, she hadn’t gotten around to having a patrol with her yet, but she looked forward to it. The woman wasn’t all that bad after all, she guessed. She actually could have normal conversations without just flirting and she had all the information Shaw needed and more. She was a walking encyclopaedia. And she was hot. She had all Shaw would need in someone and more. And from what she heard around, she could shoot well. She heard she killed a bird while sitting, which was impressive. She also killed a boar with a trap that she had left. Well, Shaw knew about it because she almost stepped in said trap not long before a boar got caught in it. Bless John and his instincts, or she would have gotten impaled by a trap set up by a person she quite liked. Not exactly the perfect ending, but she heard many people died like this on this island in the past years. The Island was literally full of traps and it was quite exciting. Definitely something she didn’t want to miss.

“Joss is missing,” Zoe finally explained and Shaw furrowed her brows, shaking her head because she had been so much in thought, that she had almost forgotten about Zoe.

“And why did you bring me here? Root wouldn’t tell anyone,” Shaw noticed.

“I know, but she knows anyway,” Zoe admitted, making Shaw frown deeper. How could she know? Oh, of course. Walking encyclopaedia who literally knows everything at real time. “She somehow knows things as soon as they happen. I don’t know how, but she does,” Zoe explained herself. That just didn’t make sense. “We need to find her. Because this time it was not HR. It was our people. They believe that she gave up her son so they want to kill her. Or give her to HR in exchange or Tyler.”

“How do you know that?” Shaw questioned, frowning. It wasn’t exactly like Zoe to act this way.

“I was drinking and suddenly someone slipped a piece of paper into my hand and disappeared and it said: _We have Carter and you so much as try to protect her, we’ll give you to HR too,_ ” Zoe cited and Shaw frowned. This wasn’t much.

“Well, we gotta tell Root. And- Hugo, whoever he is,” Shaw stated and Zoe agreed with her immediately. Guess she didn’t want to argue, Shaw figured.

As they turned around to go back to everyone, they heard screams. Shaw immediately ran to see what happened, followed by Zoe. As it turned out, it was nothing. Someone had accidentally lit on fire a dress and the woman started screaming, which made more people scream and it created a lot of chaos.

“I was wondering where you’ve been,” Root murmured as soon as Shaw approached her and Shaw rolled eyes. “Never mind, we need a plan. They’ve got Joss and some people are missing. Whatever’s going on, we have to fix it.”

“Yeah, I know. Zoe told me,” Sameen admitted and Root nodded. “So what do we do?”

“We end this party. Or-,” another set of scream interrupted them and they turned to see what happened. The same woman whose dress had been set on fire, was now dead on the sand, with blood streaming out of her nose and her mouth. A man rushed to her, checking her pulse and he shook his head. “Or more of this happens. She was against HR. Actively. I’m surprised they didn’t kill Zoe yet, she literally sleeps with John who- Right- This was Jessica, by the way.” Jessica who? “She’s John’s ex fiancée. They broke up when he started working for the CIA seven years ago. When he came to Island, he found out she lived here, married to an old douche. She still somehow cared for John, so she decided to support his anti-HR campaign.” Campaign? “He sets on fire things HR stocks in his magazines. He destroys their stations, scares their patrols, kills whoever tries to stop him and so it goes. You should know, you had a patrol with him.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t know breaking into a Dharma Station and stealing important packages sealed with something called Decima Industries was part of an anti-HR campaign,” Shaw shrugged.

“Well, now you know. Seriously, it’s a clever campaign, but I don’t think they approve this kind of acts of vandalism. That’s why they probably set Jessica’s dress on fire. To remind John of what he does. Then they poisoned her to send a message. Nobody messes with HR. You mess with them, you die,” Root mused. “I think Zoe should hide for a while. And maybe you too,” she added after a moment.

“No, no way. I’m not hiding. I’m fighting,” Shaw stated angrily. Root smiled sadly at her.

“Then you’re dead,” she admitted and Shaw didn’t like the way it made her feel. She didn’t feel. And yet her gut wrenched and she couldn’t quite understand this feeling. It was new and she didn’t like it at all. “But please, be careful?”

“Careful is my middle name,” Shaw joked but Root didn’t laugh. She just stared down at her full of worry and _emotion_ and Shaw wanted her to stop looking at her like that. She looked beautiful anyway, even worried, with a small crinkle between her brows, and her lips pursued. She was gorgeous. “I need to check on everybody, I’m technically not on duty today, but-,” she started explaining herself, but Root just waved her off. “Yeah.”

She rushed to the dead woman and admired her beautiful blond hair. She was a gorgeous woman. And now dead. She couldn’t see her husband around anywhere and she frowned. That was unusual.

“ _We’re sending Joss Carter to the Hydra Island and if someone wants to stop us, you know now what’ll happen_!” Someone shouted from the stage. Shaw looked up, but the person had a mask on and she didn’t recognize the voice. She heard Ben protesting somewhere, but a few other people threw Joss, tied and with a hood on her head, on the stage. The man took off the hood from her head and everyone gasped. She was full of bruises, even more than before, but she was smiling.

“You can hurt me, but you cannot break me,” she breathed out and Shaw smirked. That was the spirit. She stood up, noticed a guard close to her and stole his rifle. Then, she charged it and shot at the man holding Joss. He fell to the ground, blood pouring out of his chest and died immediately. She charged it again and shot at someone else in seconds time. There was chaos everywhere and before she could shoot again, someone was already ripping the rifle out of her hands and she was being dragged somewhere. She wriggled and stepped on one of the guards’ foot.

“Stop the violence!” She heard a woman scream, but she pushed the other guard and punched him in the face. Then, she kicked the other one between his legs. Her dress was a mess and she had blood on her knuckles, but she felt alive. Not for long, as she felt a needle in her neck and turned around to strangle the person who sedated her. It was Root.

“Sorry, sweetie, but I can’t let you get into more trouble,” she apologized, but Shaw gritted her teeth angrily, choking the woman harder. She didn’t seem to mind. She parted her lips and gasped.

“I will end you,” Shaw promised and Root just gasped again.

“You can end me all you want,” she whispered and as Shaw felt her eyes rolling to the back, drifting off, she heard her say, “right after your nap.” Then she was out.


	5. Chapter 5

#####  **Day 12**

#####  **Somewhere In The Pacific, The Island**

#####  **5:45 AM**

 

 

So, apparently they had a prison.

Shaw was restless. They locked her up in it and it was not small, but it was also almost empty. She only had a sink and it was made of really old metal she could never destroy to run away. There was also a shower and Shaw tried several times breaking it, but without even a rock to throw, she was barely able to move it. And at last, she had a toilet. If it could be called such. It was literally a hole in the ground in which she could pee. There was some paper left for her, but it wasn’t good enough to be a weapon. She tried, of course, choking one of the guards when he entered to give her food, but it didn’t work. She got sedated after and she woke up with a headache that didn’t last long.

She was now kicking the sink and her feet were already bloody, but she couldn’t care less. She wanted out of this cage. There wasn't even a bed nor a blanket.

She finally heard the door open and she jumped on the guard, choking her. The food fell to the floor, but she didn’t care. She looked up and saw Root. Root, whose lips were now slightly parted and really seemed to enjoy this. Shaw thought she could kick her and run away, but she stepped away and glared at her instead. Root smiled gently and knelt to pick up the food. Again, Shaw considered knocking her out and running away, but she couldn’t bring herself to do that.

“I guess you don’t like it here,” Root joked and Shaw glared at her, pursuing her lips.

“This cage is empty and I have nothing to do,” she complained. Root smirked, checking her out pointedly.

“I would tell you to do me, but you’re kinda dirty,” Root smirked and Shaw rolled her eyes.

“When can I get out?” She asked, huffing. She was angry. Angry at Root for sedating her. Angry at Hugo and Ben for locking her up, because they had to be behind this. Angry at HR for making her loose her temper.

Root smiled apologetically and Shaw widened her eyes open angrily, breathing through her nose. “I’m afraid not yet.”

“Not yet? I’ve been here for like four days! Where have you been those days? I bet outside, enjoying your patrols,” Shaw retorted. She was mad. She wanted to punch something. She needed to.

“I’ve been planning how to destroy HR once and for all with Hugo and Ben,” she admitted. Shaw glared at her. The woman was so clever she obviously managed to have such important conversations with the bosses.

“Why am I locked up down here?” Shaw questioned, humming angrily. Root looked down at her and passed her the sandwich. Shaw took it, biting on it, but kept looking questioningly at Root.

“It’s your job to figure it out,” Root shrugged and grinned. Shaw wanted to punch her. Because even in the Dharma Initiative grey suit she looked hot and inviting and Shaw wished she weren’t in such situation, so she could grab her and kiss her. That was out of question now.

Shaw shook her head, reminding herself that the woman had sedated. The woman had locked her up in this goddamn cage. She couldn’t let it slide. She curled her fingers in fists and glared at Root intensely. “Tell me,” she ordered.

“I can’t, I’m sorry,” Root apologized, attempting to touch Shaw. The shorted woman grasped her wrist and pushed the other woman away. Root nodded. “Today Joss woke up.”

“Woke up? From what?” Shaw didn’t really care, but she didn’t want to bore herself to death by not talking at all. She guessed talking to Root would be a great distraction.

“Oh, right. After I sedated you,” Shaw raised her eyebrows pointedly. “For that I’m sorry, yes. But anyway, after I did that, someone must have hit her in the head. She fell flat and we thought she was dead. Lucky for us, we have a lot of doctors around here, so they took her to the hospital and she was in coma for five days, but now she’s awake.” Five days confirmed, then.

“Does that woman ever get a break from all these things?” Shaw noticed and Root laughed a little. It wasn’t even meant to be funny, but for each their own, Shaw guessed.

“She’s a good person and good people often get misunderstood,” Root murmured and Shaw frowned, wondering if Root thought herself a good person at all.

“Do good people lock someone up for no reason at all?” She retorted, angrily and Root shook her head.

“I'm not a good person and she didn't lock you up. Also, there _is_  a reason. You just have to figure it out,” she pointed out. Shaw huffed. She wasn’t good at this.

 

 

#####  **Day 19**

#####  **Somewhere In The Pacific, The Island**

#####  **7:23 PM**

 

 

“That is Joey Durban. He’s ex-military. He worked as a thief until John, under Hugo’s commands, gave him a job. He’s a good man and young. And strong, in case you wondered if you could get away,” Root babbled about the guard on duty at the moment. Shaw rolled her eyes. She was bored. To death.

She had been punching the walls for a week now and her knuckles were now bloody and swollen. She punched Root too, once, hoping the woman would defend herself, but instead she had let her. Shaw kicked the wall that day, until she bled. She also found a pipe and if she jumped well enough, she could reach it. But that was where it ended. She couldn’t take it down to use it as a weapon so she used it for exercise instead. It kept her active, but she wanted out. She just wanted to use a gun, fight someone who would defend themselves.

“John respects him, so you should try not to kill him. He’s just here to redeem himself,” Root added and Shaw huffed, pacing around. She didn’t care about John. She didn’t care about anyone.

It was quite a habit now, though, that Root would bring her food then bore her to death. She hated her. If the woman would at least defend herself... But no, she didn’t. She was pathetic. Shaw wanted her to suffer like she did. Instead she couldn’t. Because the woman was also the only person who took care of her. The only one who talked to her, tried to keep her on the loop of things. Shaw sighed, she didn’t like this.

“Did anyone die today?” Shaw finally asked, remembering that the last time Root had showed up, she had mentioned someone dying. Shaw couldn’t remember who it was, but she knew someone died.

“No. And Joss is still recovering, but she’s better now,” Root told her. Joss. Shaw had forgotten her. It wasn’t easy to forget things around here, but Root kept her distracted so it must have slipped.

“Can I get out of this cage now?” She huffed and Root shook her head apologetically. Shaw rolled her eyes and kicked the sink. It hurt, but by now her feet were so full of bruises, it was obvious it would hurt. It hurt walking. She kicked again, hissing and Root approached her from behind, gently touching her. Shaw wanted to stop her, but instead, she let her. The taller woman knelt and helped Shaw take off her socks. Shaw had taken off her shoes a few days ago and used them to knock out a guard, so they decided to take her shoes away. Which made kicking stuff even harder.

“I want you to sit down and let me help you,” Root said, calmly and Shaw glared at her. She hated her. She didn’t understand why the woman kept coming here if it wasn’t to free her. Except of course for the part where she told Shaw to understand why she was here, which Shaw obviously didn’t. She couldn’t.

Shaw did as told, after a while and Root left the room. Shaw thought for a second that Root would leave her there, but the woman came back immediately, holding a medical kit and Shaw considered stealing it and maybe stabbing someone with a scalpel or anything. That wouldn't be a great escape plan.

“Don’t more,” Root ordered and Shaw grumbled in annoyance, but didn’t move. The woman had something about her that just made Shaw listen to her. Even when she didn’t want to. Even when she just wanted to punch the hell out of her. “You should stop kicking things, it may cause severe damage to your feet.”

“I’m going to be here forever anyway, right?” Root shook her head, furrowing her brows and pouring some water on Shaw’s wounded feet. Shaw bit her lip, but didn’t say make any sounds. She had a high resistance to pain. “If not, then why can’t I get out?”

“The plan is not done yet,” Root admitted and Shaw glared at her, sighing angrily.

“I don’t care about the-,” she stopped as Root wrapped Shaw’s foot with gauzed, touching her lightly, as if she would break. The woman was so fucking gentle, such a doll. Shaw wanted to break her. “-plan. I want to get out of here. I’ve been down here for more than I can imagine. I’m hungry and I’m not getting enough exercise. I need to breathe real air. Get me out of here or I swear I’ll kill you.”

Root stared at her. Shaw didn’t like the way the woman looked at her. Her gaze was full of untold apologies and _something._ She wanted the woman to stop looking at her. Root cleaned the other foot and wrapped it in gauze. “Don’t kick walls anymore,” Root whispered. “I have to go now.” Root got up and Shaw avoided her gaze, angry at everything. But she would keep the promise.

“Go make your stupid plan. And when you finally decide that it’s time to tell me why I’m here, you know where to find me,” Shaw snapped, testing if she could walk. She could not. So she curled up and waited until Root left the room.

 

 

#####  **Day 34**

#####  **Somewhere In The Pacific, The Island**

#####  **10:31 AM**

 

 

“We found Samuel Gates dead in his house today. His kid is gone, nowhere in sight. There are no camera feeds of that moment, someone must have deleted them and it’s not gonna be easy finding them again,” Root told a really, really angry Shaw who was eating her sandwich and was murmuring a melody. She didn’t want to listen to Root. Every day the woman tortured her with small talk and Shaw was done with it. She wanted her gone, she wanted her to shut up.

“I don’t care,” Shaw gritted, biting the sandwich furiously and slumping her back on the cold floor. It was awful.

Her hair was dirty – she had given up on washing it after she realized that it didn’t help at all anyway – and her body was itchy. She couldn’t stop scratching herself, which led to an infection and Root had clean her up again. Only her back and legs, though. Shaw didn’t want the woman touching her anywhere else and from what it seemed, the woman had given up on her innuendos as well. Or at least they weren’t as obvious. She could still swear the woman sometimes flirted with her, but it had been so long since she had been out, that she was sure her mind might have been making things up. She didn’t care anyway.

Shaw couldn’t find the point of all of this. She got it that she had done wrong by killing those men, but two-three days of lock-up would’ve been enough. She didn’t need to be locked up for weeks, that was too much. And she couldn’t believe people would let her be locked up like this. Like an animal. It was unbearable and if Hugo was as benevolent as they said, why did he let them lock her up? Was Hugo even real? She had never seen a Hugo and honestly, if the guy was real, she hoped for him that she would never meet him, because he would get the beating of his life, that much she could promise. She was drained and bored, but she could still make promises. Even like this, she could knock out at least one guy.

She wanted to kill Root too, but the woman was defenceless. She would gladly punch the woman, but given she wouldn’t respond anyway, it would be pointless. She had tried once again to hurt her, hoping the woman would react. She didn’t. She took it all. Maybe she felt guilty for all of this. Shaw never felt guilty, but she knew normal people did. Well, she wanted the woman to fight back anyway.

“I’m doing this to protect you,” Root stated firmly and Shaw glared at her, shaking her head. She didn’t want to hear this. “Punch me if you need to.” Shaw furrowed her brows, breathing through her nose. “I sedated you.” Shaw curled her hands in fists. “I commanded them to bring you here.” Shaw could feel her blood boil. “It’s my fault you’re not out yet. _I_ want you to be stuck in here until you figure out what you’ve-,” she stopped as Shaw punched the wall next to her.

“I don’t want to punch you,” she admitted.

“And what do you want?” Root asked back, openly. She would do anything Shaw wanted, but not free her, Shaw knew that. She wanted her to disappear, never come back. She couldn’t keep listening to that. The woman made her blood boil and she couldn’t hurt her again. It was wrong. She had enough bruises on her face from the last time Shaw hurt her anyway. Her dollface was still gorgoues, but it looked wrong.

“I want you to go away,” she sighed and Root nodded. “Don’t come back,” she added after a second and she saw a glimpse of sadness wash through Root’s face, but she didn’t care.

She wasn’t even so sure she believed that herself though as she felt a pang of pain in her stomach and she knew she had done something wrong. Root was the only person who seemed to like her now. The guards never talked to her and nobody else came down here. Not even Zoe, which she felt kind of disappointed about. It didn’t matter.

 

 

#####  **Day 41**

#####  **Somewhere In The Pacific, The Island**

#####  **8:55 AM**

 

 

Shaw whined as she heard the door open and she sat up, checking who was it now. She hoped it would be Root. She didn’t do apologies, but she wanted to apologise to that woman, she needed to. But it wasn’t her. She recognized who she saw though.

“Hello, Shaw,” Joss Carter greeted her, sitting in front of Shaw. Shaw rolled her eyes, but nodded anyway, to greet her back. “I’m sorry that they put you in here.” Shaw didn’t say anything, just angrily staring at the other woman. In a better situation, she would’ve appreciated the woman’s beautiful brown eyes and black hair and her black skin. Her big lips, her cute nose. But she didn’t. Now they were just parts of the human body. She didn’t care. “Do you know why you’re here?”

“If I knew, do you think I would still be in here?” Shaw snarled and Carter shook her head.

“No.”

“Why am I here?” She asked.

“When you killed those men, what did you think?” Carter questioned back and Shaw shrugged. She didn’t think anything. “That’s the problem, you should’ve thought.”

“I saved your life, didn’t I?” Shaw noticed and Carter smiled widely at her. She was thankful for that, Shaw realized. Well, that wasn’t enough for her.

“Yes, you saved my life. That’s why I want to help you. I see Root couldn’t get to you, make you understand, so I’m gonna help you instead,” Joss told her nicely and Shaw sighed, but didn’t say anything. She was angry. “Do you know why HR wants me dead?”

“Because you’re against them?” Shaw proposed and Joss nodded.

“Exactly. Why do they have my son?” Her son. Shaw had totally forgotten about that. Tyler was still captive then. Right, Root would’ve told her if he would’ve been back.

“They want everyone to turn against you and Hugo and Ben, so they can take over the Island.” She wasn’t sure where she was going with this, but she guessed there was a purpose to it, so she wanted Joss to continue.

“Right. They managed to do that, didn’t they?” She demanded.

“Yes, they did. People wanted you dead and were rebelling against Hugo and Ben too,” Shaw frowned. Maybe she knew where this was getting. “They manipulated people into thinking you were the enemy.”

“Absolutely. So by killing your own people, what did you do?” Joss asked, getting up to leave.

Shaw already knew. By killing her own people, she only made it worse. The spark became a fire. She risked her own life, too. That was what Root meant when she said she was protecting her. By keeping her locked up, HR couldn’t get to her and kill her and neither could her own people.

She made Hugo and Ben become rebels of their own country. She started something she couldn’t control. And that was why Root had to keep her locked up for this long. That was why she was so secretive and why she wanted Shaw to figure this out by herself. Why she told her about all those killings or those guards and their lives.

Root wanted Shaw to know whose lives she was putting in danger by killing those two men. And whose lives were already threatened. All those children.

She slumped down on her back and stared at the ceiling. Now she was ready to get out.

 

#####  **Day 43**

#####  **Somewhere In The Pacific, The Island**

#####  **11:07 PM**

 

 

The door to her cage opened abruptly and Shaw shot up on her feet, hoping whoever it was, was here to take her out.

“You’re free,” Root said and Shaw stared at her thankfully. “Fusco’s son was kidnapped and he wants to go looking for him immediately. He won’t listen to reason and we tried sedating him, but as soon as he woke up, he started screaming, waking up everyone. We need to go. The plan is done anyway.”

Shaw processed those words quickly, alarmed by the worried tone Root had in her voice. They finally had the plan. How long did it take them to figure it out? She would've been wondering why they let Fusco go so easily, but now she knew. They wanted to protect her. Maybe they didn't want to protect him.

“Go where?” She asked, already out of the door. Root followed her, catching her wrist to stop her. “What?”

“You need to take a shower first,” Root said and Shaw looked down at herself. In comparison to Root’s fresh and clean appearance, she really did look like shit. “I’ll take you to my house, because it’s the only one not bugged. Well, it was, but I found the bugs and destroyed them.”

“Okay,” Shaw just said back, finally feeling alive. She was still angry, very much so, but she was glad. And she appreciated the fact that it was Root who freed her. “I’m sorry for,” Shaw waved her hand at Root’s already almost healed bruises, “these.”

“It’s okay. I kept you locked up in a cage just so you would realize why you were locked, without actually helping you realize it,” Root smiled and Shaw didn’t know what to say. “I’m really sorry for that. And for sedating you. I wanted to help.”

“Don’t do that or I’ll punch you again,” Shaw warned her. She didn’t want to ruin this moment.

“I’d take that,” Root admitted, but Shaw didn’t want to hear that. Didn’t want the woman to take it.

They didn’t speak on their secretive way to Root’s house. Being outside was amazing. Her hairs on her arms were tickling her but it was perfect. The fresh air of the night finally made her truly breathe. She didn’t know she would ever get to breathe fresh air again. Her feet hurt and she really didn’t enjoy walking that much, but she’s had worse. Besides, after Root cleaned her feet, she stopped kicking things, so they weren’t as bad anymore. But it felt weird getting to walk again.

She was free though and that was what mattered. 

If she had any feelings, she would probably be happy now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is darker, I know.  
> And really OOC.  
> I'm sorry if it triggered anyone. And for making Shoot kind of abusive but I think it would fit that Shaw would take out her anger on the first person who was close to her.  
> Also, I know Root should've been the one to help her, but I think Rot was too worried about protecting her and everyone else, that she forgot she also had to _make_ Shaw realize what she's done wrong.  
>  I think, in her own way, Root did leave hints, though.  
> As for the plan and how abruply Shaw was freed, I think it would make sense for them to free her as soon as the plan was complete. Because Root did say it was her decision to lock Shaw up, but she just did that because she wanted Shaw to take out her anger.
> 
> I'm really sorry for this chapter, but I hope you liked it.


	6. Chapter 6

#####  **Day 44**

**Somewhere In The Pacific, The Island**

**12:01 AM**

 

 

Shaw took her time washing herself. It wasn’t easy to scrub off all the dirt she had on herself and her hair needed a whole bottle of shampoo to be sufficiently clean. She kept scrubbing angrily because she felt too dirty to get out. Her fingernails were full of dirt and she wanted to get it out, but she couldn’t. She was angry. Her feet hurt even more now that they had been under water and fought hard against the tears in her eyes. She didn’t cry.

If she had realized sooner why she was there, maybe they would’ve freed her. She wasn’t so sure. Being out was the best feeling ever but the realizations she had come to two days ago were suddenly crumbling upon her and she couldn’t stop thinking that maybe she was wrong. They hadn’t even asked her what she had realized. Maybe they knew. Root seemed to know everything anyway, right? Maybe Hugo was psychic.

Shaw wasn’t sure of anything anymore. On one hand she understood why they had her locked up for so long, but on the other she was just angry.

She stepped out of the shower, still angry. The water stream didn’t calm her at all, but it was still a great feeling to wash herself. She didn’t care much about her appearance, but she hated being dirty. Being pretty and being clean was different, after all. She dried her hair quickly and combed it and it finally felt good.

She didn’t want to get dressed. She didn’t have any clean clothes and her clothes were full of sweat and dirt and dust and she didn’t want to wear them. She only dried herself with one of Root’s blankets and wrapped herself in it. She opened the door to the bathroom slowly, because she now realized that too much noise hurt her head. She had been closed in a cage for far too long for this.

She cringed as the door made a loud noise when she closed it and she reached the kitchen slowly, careful not to irritate her feet. The blanket wasn’t wrapped well enough, but she couldn’t care less.

Root was on the couch in the living room, reading some reports and drinking a cup of coffee and Shaw approached her.

“I need clothes,” she mumbled and the other woman looked up from her report and eyed her carefully. Shaw knew most of her chest was exposed and the weight of Root’s gaze on her body made her uncomfortable. Mainly because she didn’t mind it. She shifted and glared at the woman.

“I’ll go to my room and bring you some, you can sit on one of the couches if you need to. I made you coffee, because I knew you would be tired,” Root said as she left the room and Shaw decided to sit on the same couch as Root and positioned her feet on the small table in front of her. She found the cup of coffee Root spoke of and sipped. It wasn’t really hot anymore, but it was good anyway. She liked coffee and in this moment she needed it more than ever.

She didn’t have a headache – she noticed she didn’t get headaches here and if she did, they didn’t last long – but she was tired. She wanted to sleep, like on a real bed, but she knew that they probably would start walking again now and she wouldn’t get to sleep much. She bet she looked like crap as well. But she didn’t care.

The couch was comfortable and she closed her eyes, waiting for Root to come back. She didn’t want to wait long. She wanted to get dressed.

“These may be too long for you, but you can always-,” Root started saying, but Shaw stood up and ripped the clothes from her hands. Then, she opened her blanket, staring right into Root’s shocked eyes. She glared at her, but didn’t want the woman to look away. She had seen her naked a few times anyway, in the cage.

“I should-,” Root babbled, staring at Shaw’s naked body. She was blushing and Shaw didn’t mind it. She put on the underpants and kept looking at Root.

“Don’t look away,” she ordered. She didn’t want it to sound as rough, but as she said the words, her voice was tougher than intended and Root nodded, watching Shaw’s actions intently. Shaw put on her bra and approached Root slowly. “Help me clasp it.”

“When I imagined this, I thought it’d be the other way around and I’d be the one giving commands,” Root admitted awkwardly but Shaw didn’t want this. This felt too good and too wrong simultaneously. She turned and felt Root’s gaze on her back. The woman clasped her bra with shaky hands and let her hands wander on Shaw’s back. Sameen hissed and Root immediately pulled away. “You’re full of scars,” Root murmured and Shaw turned around to look at her.

Only now she noticed how tired the woman looked. She had bags under her eyes and her eyes were red. Her nose was red too and she noticed the healing bruises she had caused. How long has it been since she had last slept?

“You look like crap,” Shaw muttered, staring at the woman. Root laughed, taking a step back and picking up her reports. Then, she stood in front of Shaw again to check her pointedly.

“You kinda do too,” Root smirked. “But I would still do you.”

“Oh, awesome, back at it again with the flirting,” Shaw huffed, putting on Root’s pants. They were long. Way too long. She glared at Root and Root grinned, kneeling down to help Shaw pull up the trousers. She didn’t take her time, but she let her hands linger a bit on Shaw’s legs. Then, she stood up and adjusted Shaw’s sleeveless shirt.

“I can’t help it,” Root “winked” and Shaw rolled her eyes. She had been out for literally an hour and the woman already couldn’t keep it in her pants. Unbelievable.

“Does it turn you on so much that I’m out?” She pointed out and Root raised her eyebrows, smirking.

“Well, you being so clean and all... In my clothes,” Root muttered.

“I still hate you,” Shaw noticed and she saw Root’s look change, as she stepped back and looked down at her reports. “I know you wanted to protect me. I hate you because I’m not as mad at you as I should be. And because I feel sorry for punching you. Guilty. I don’t do guilty,” she explained and Root glanced at her hopefully. “And I guess I’m sorry for causing so much chaos.”

“You just accidentally started something that was bound to happen anyway,” Root defended her. “I’m sorry we had you locked up for so long. What you realized... It is true, but I don’t blame you for that. I’m sorry if you think that.”

“Okay,” Shaw shrugged. “I’m bored, when are we going?”

“As soon as Hugo contacts me, we’re ready to go,” Root replied and Shaw nodded. She wanted to sleep a bit, but she knew she couldn’t. She would not wake up afterwards.

“Where are we going?” She asked instead, stopping a yawn. She picked up her coffee and sipped again, hoping it would work soon. She was tired, way too tired for her liking. Also, she was still shoeless, so she sat on the couch and curled up her feet, staring at Root questioningly. The woman probably hadn’t heard the question though, as she was staring at her report and reading it carefully. “Root.”

“I’m sorry. We’re going to the Temple. It’s hostile territory, but not for us,” Root told her and Shaw nodded. She didn’t know what the Temple was. She had been on this Island for over a month but she only knew about the Pearl, which was quite far from Dharmaville and she honestly didn’t know why they bothered making them go so far just to monitor things. She could swear it took her more going there, than monitoring.

She also knew about the Boathouse, which was basically what she had seen first when she arrived to the Island, though she hadn’t paid much attention to it back then. She saw the river around Dharmaville too, but that was it. This Island was immense and she knew nothing about it. It frustrated her. She wanted to know more.

She didn’t do curious, but she wanted to know this Island. And how they were planning to save it from HR. She hated being kept in the dark. Literally and figuratively.

“Are you going to tell me your plan, or am I gonna have to figure it out by myself?” She questioned bitterly and Root smirked, licking her lips. Why the hell did she do that? Shaw literally couldn’t understand her.

“As much as I would like to tell you and not keep you in the dark anymore... I think I can’t,” Root apologized and Shaw rolled her eyes, sighing. “But I can tell you this: the plan itself is easy. But there’s one part of the plan that took me and Harold a while to prepare.”

“Something to do with computers, then?” Shaw noticed and Root grinned. Oh, so it had to do something with the computers. “So what’s the Temple?”

“A temple, sweetie,” Root raised her eyebrows pointedly and Shaw huffed. “You’ll see.”

“You’re way too secretive for my-,” Root’s satellite phone buzzed on the table and Shaw immediately uncurled her feet and picked it up, passing it to Root.

“ _Dude, you ready_?” An unknown voice spoke and Shaw frowned. It had to be Hugo, but it didn’t sound like someone who was in charge. It was a friendly voice. Maybe that was what Root had meant when she said Hugo was a nice guy. Well, Shaw hoped he wasn’t too nice.

“Ready, Hugo, she’s fresh and clean and ready to go,” Root “winked” at her and Shaw rolled her eyes. She believed firmly that one day she would roll her eyes away with all the eye-rolling she did around Root. She pointed at her bare feet and Root gasped.

“ _Everything alright?_ ” Hugo sounded concerned and Root nodded, then realized he couldn’t see her. She went to the door and brought Shaw a pair of boots. They were too big for her, but Shaw appreciated the effort. She wouldn’t admit it though. “ _Root_?”

“Yes, everything alright, Hugo. I just forgot to give her the boots,” Root explained hastily and laid the sat on the floor, to help Shaw put the boots on. Shaw appreciated that too, even though she would never say it out loud. Her feet hurt, but Root was really gentle, helping her put them on as slowly as she could and when her feet reached the bottom, she fought hard against a hiss. Root picked up the sat and sat next to Shaw, smirking. Shaw didn’t know why. But the woman looked nice when she smirked, even with all the bruises on her face.

Once again, Shaw felt really guilty for those bruises. She shouldn’t have beaten her up. The woman was a doll, she got hurt easily. She wanted to kiss them away. This woman didn’t deserve to get hurt. She was annoying, but she didn’t deserve it.

Shaw wasn’t sure when she had stopped being mad at this woman and had instead turned into someone who wanted to protect her at all costs, but here she was, staring at Root and hoping the woman didn’t get hurt again and certainly not by her.

“We need to go,” Root suddenly said, standing up. “Here,” she offered Shaw a hand, who rolled her eyes. “What kind of gentle-woman would I be, if I didn’t help a lady in in need?” She teased and Shaw glared at her. She got up by herself, but it hurt, so Root put her hands on her waist to help her get steady. Shaw patted her hands away, but she didn’t actually mind the contact. She should.

 

 

 

#####  **Day 44**

**Somewhere In The Pacific, The Island**

**12:29 AM**

 

 

 

“So you’re Hugo,” Shaw said, eyeing the man in front of her. He was big. Literally. He was tall, fat and it made him look very big. Too big for Shaw’s standards who felt like a dwarf next to him. She already felt very small next to Root anyway.

Hugo Reyes, the man everyone described as nice and benevolent, really did look like it. He had a big smile on his face and he was eating a Dharma chocolate bar. Her stomach didn’t like that, as it grumbled and she rolled her eyes. She realized only now how hungry she was. She gritted her teeth, trying not look too much at Hugo’s food.

“Hey, Shaw,” he greeted her. Shaw raised her eyebrows. How was this man the boss? He cleaned his chin from some crumbles of the chocolate bar and smiled again. Shaw didn’t like him very much, to be honest. She watched as he searched through his pockets and then he took out another chocolate bar and offered it to her. “I figured you’d be hungry.”

“Oh, you did, didn’t you?” She snapped, glaring at him. Root patted her to scold her and Shaw huffed, annoyed. This man was not adamant to lead them anywhere, let alone to be the boss. This had to be some kind of a joke.

He offered it again and she snatched it from his hands, opening it quickly to eat it quickly. She _was_  hungry but this wasn’t enough. She ate it very quickly and looked around herself. They were in the forest, near the river and they were apparently waiting for someone, Root had said. She had no idea who, but she hoped they wouldn’t have to wait long.

“I’m sorry for locking you up. My ancestor worked like this and he sorta helped me become who I am now,” Hugo admitted. “He was a good man,” he glanced at Ben who fidgeted and looked down. “He lived a long life and uh, I hope I won’t have to live as long as he did, but he was good.”

“He never cared-,” Ben started saying but Hugo glared at him. That was a weird thing to see. Hugo glaring was really weird, but apparently he did glare. So he wasn't all smiles and hugs.

“Anyway, I wanna help you. I’m here for this. I know locking you up wasn’t the best way to do that, but I knew you would get into more trouble and end up dead,” Shaw rolled her eyes. “You’re important, dude. More than you can imagine.”

“Who are we waiting for?” Shaw asked, sighing. Hugo didn’t seem to mind. Ugh, he was way too nice. And what was she important for? She didn’t like this.

“Me, Grumpy,” Miles said and she glared at him. He wasn’t alone. Zoe and probably Fusco were with him too. One thing Shaw noticed was that nobody, except Fusco wore their Dharma suits. Root wore a see-through white shirt, black trousers and boots and she had a green hoodie on her shoulders. Shaw had one too. When they left the house, Root gave it to her and Shaw noticed that there was a Dharma Initiative sign on it.

The others were all wearing different clothes though: Hugo wore a red t-shirt, blue shorts and white sneakers; Ben, a white button-up shirt, black pants and black sneakers; Zoe, a white t-shirt, blue trousers and black boots, with a black hoodie on her waist and Miles, a white t-shirt, black jacket, blue jeans and black trousers.

“You’re coming with us, then?” She muttered and Miles smirked, but shook his head.

“Nah, I don’t want to get involved in all this crap. I was just here because I freed Missy here and she took her sweet time washing herself. Guess she didn’t like her cage,” he retorted and Shaw raised her eyebrows. He obviously meant Zoe. And that meant she had been in a cage as well. That was why she hadn’t visited her.

Checking Zoe better, she noticed the bags under the woman’s eyes. She also had wet hair. And she seemed to be really thin. Probably didn’t feed her well as well.

“I think Reese and Carter are joining you too, Hurley. They’ll meet you at the Jughead,” he added, turning to Hugo. Shaw frowned. Why did he call him Hurley?

“That’s his nickname. I refer to him as ‘Hugo’, but he likes it better when people call him 'Hurley'. It kind of fits him, don’t you think?” Root whispered, touching Shaw’s shoulders and Shaw should’ve tensed, patted her hand away. Instead, she relaxed under her touch and relished it. She wanted more.

“Hurley,” Shaw tested the name on her tongue. Yeah, it sounded good. “I like it.”

Hurley looked at her and smiled and she didn’t like the man, didn’t like it that he was the boss, but he was good. Just too good. Too pure for this world.

“Thanks, dude,” he told him and patted his back. Shaw knew she wouldn’t like that.

“No problem, Boss,” he teased and walked into the jungle, to leave them. He didn’t even say goodbye. He just disappeared in the dark of the forest.

“If it’s all of us now, can we go? Where’s the Jughead?” Shaw asked hastily, impatient to go. Fusco seemed to share her enthusiasm. He looked very worried but seemed to try to cover his emotions. He wasn’t very good at it.

“Patience, sweetie,” Root leaned over, smirking. Shaw rolled her eyes, but she saw a weak smile on Zoe’s lips so perhaps Root flirting with her wasn’t as bad. Not that she cared about Zoe, or Root, or anyone on that matter, but she didn’t want Zoe to be sad. Deep down, of course.

“Actually, no need for patience. We’re ready to go,” Ben announced and Shaw glanced at him, feeling very thankful. She needed to stretch her legs. The walk to the river hadn’t been too long and she was starting to get nervous again.

As they started walking, Root walked over to Hurley and Ben and left Shaw to walk alone. Not that she cared. She just thought Root would walk by her side and talk to her constantly, being annoying as usual and all. Guess she didn’t get to have that.

“I don’t blame ya, ya know,” Fusco told her, approaching her. Shaw frowned at him and continued walking, hoping he would leave her alone. He didn’t.

Shaw decided to look around herself instead, because the company of the short man wasn’t appealing and she decided the forest was much better than him. Thicker, for sure. The rush of the river was nice, too. It was calming. She liked the sound of water and she focused on that. On the water rushing through the rocks and dirt, coming from somewhere on the island. She wondered where.

“I’m sorry they locked you up. I wonder why they didn’t do that with me too, but I guess I’ll found out soon enough, right?” Fusco tried to start a conversation again and Shaw rolled her eyes, begging for Zoe to save her from this. She actually turned to see where Zoe was and she noticed the woman was walking silently by herself. That was unusual.

“My son is 11, ya know? Great kid. He lives with his mom in New York, but he comes to see me sometimes,” Shaw huffed. She wasn’t interested in this. “And I got him captured. I shouldn’t have brought him here.”

“Yeah, maybe you shouldn’t have,” Shaw snapped and he backed away.

“No need to be so rude, Short Stuff,” he retorted and she rolled her eyes. “I think Morgan back there is as grumpy as you are, so maybe you should try talking to her. Or ya know, walk together in silence.”

He left after that, joining Root and the others. Shaw noticed only now the bag on Fusco’s shoulders. She wondered if he had any guns with him. Shaw had one in her left pocket and another in her boots and she saw a rifle in Zoe’s hands. Ben had a gun too and Root was obviously full of weapons, but that wasn’t new. She was always prepared. She liked that about her.

She walked by herself, step after step, bored. She wanted real action. She wasn’t fond of chit-chats but now she would even like to have that. With Root, possibly. She also wanted to eat. And sleep. She sighed, knowing she couldn’t have either.

She thought about approaching Root, but she was talking to Hurley and the others and it seemed serious. She didn’t want to interrupt them.

“I hate being kept in the dark,” Shaw muttered to herself, touching her gun. She loved guns. She wished she could shoot someone in that exact moment. In the head, possibly.

“Tell me about it,” Zoe smiled, joining Shaw and Shaw didn’t mind it. But the woman truly looked like crap. She was way too thin. “Did they keep you in a cage too?”

“Yeah, for over thirty days, said I needed to figure out why I was there,” Shaw answered. Zoe nodded at that, probably thinking about something.

“Me too. In the end they freed me without letting me tell them what I figured out,” Zoe said back. “I think it was to protect me, though. Not a great way to show it, because I’m pretty sure I lost ten pounds in that cage.”

“Same. Two sandwiches a day really isn’t the perfect diet,” Shaw complained. She really didn’t do complaining, but the woman seemed to need to complain about it, so she played along with it. “Were you alone all the time? Nobody visited you?”

“Oh, John visited me,” Zoe retorted smugly and Shaw shook her head in disbelief. That woman was unbelievable. She had sex even in a cage, awesome. “He didn’t tell me anything, though. Quiet as usual. Even more than usual. Kind of boring.”

“Huh, Root wasn’t quiet,” Shaw thought out loud, realizing it might sound like something else only after she said it. Zoe raised her eyebrows pointedly and grinned.

“So you guys finally eloped?” Shaw rolled her eyes, shaking her head. Zoe was the worst. She didn’t mind her.

“No,” Shaw stated firmly. Zoe smirked, staring at her knowingly. Whatever pleases her. “Do you know what the Jughead is?”

“It was a hydrogen bomb,” Zoe shrugged. “I don’t know now. I think it’s just the location of it, though.”

“Int-,” Shaw started but was interrupted by the sound of gunfire. She heard Ben shout something, but it was muffled by a bomb exploding right on the river. She flew and hit a tree, but didn’t pass out.

She couldn’t hear. She stood up with shaky legs and pulled out her gun, trembling. She couldn’t see much, the air was full of dust and she coughed. She touched the back of her head and felt blood. That wasn’t good.

But she didn’t care.

She stumbled over someone and saw a Dharma suit, but it wasn’t Fusco. She frowned and heard a loud buzz in her ears. She still couldn’t hear, but it was something, at least. She cursed and as the dust started to fall down, she saw a blurry figure pointing a gun at her. She tried to unlock the safety of her gun and shoot, but the person already fell down with a hole between their eyes.

She heard a loud noise in her ears and she covered them, but it didn’t go away. She coughed but heard only a muffled sound. At least her hearing was getting better.

“Sameen!” She heard someone shout in the distance. She stood up and walked on shaky legs, seeing Root. The woman offered her a hand and Shaw accepted it. This wasn’t exactly the time for pride and honour.

They both walked to the river, Root helping Shaw, until Shaw heard a low gunshot and then a muffled scream next to her. Next thing, Root was on the ground, holding her shoulder tightly and crying and Shaw pointed shakily at the person who shot her.

She pulled the trigger without waiting and the man fell to the ground with a hole in his throat. She shot a few other people who were coming onto her, until she ran out of ammo.

She knelt next to Root, trembling and protecting her from the gunfire. Then, she fell next to her with a bullet in her stomach.

She lost consciousness soon enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!  
> I don't know if it's too much too ask, but if you could, could _please_ give me some feedback? I'd really like that!


	7. Chapter 7

#####  **Day 44**

**Somewhere In The Pacific, The Island**

**6:57 AM**

 

 

 

The first she heard when she first woke up, were people talking. Loudly. Too loudly. She wanted to roll her eyes, but her eyes weren’t even open and she couldn’t for the life of everything dear open them.

She wanted to curse at that, but she couldn’t either. She had something in her mouth and it tasted like plastic.

She wanted to go down again, but instead, her eyes had a mind of their own and started opening themselves, slowly and she saw unknown people standing over her. They noticed her open eyes and someone said, “give me more anaesthesia, Anthony!”

She felt a weird a taste in her mouth and she was out again.

 

 

 

#####  **Day 46**

**Somewhere In The Pacific, The Island**

**1:08 PM**

 

 

 

“She’ll be able to walk tomorrow,” someone said, but it was muffled. Shaw slowly opened her eyes and looked around herself. She didn’t know where she was.

The room was small, it had open windows – bless – and there was a small drawer on which there was water, bread and boiled eggs. Shaw licked her lips hungrily.

The drapes on the windows were all white and had small Dharma Initiative signs. When she sat on her bed, she noticed a big couch at the end of the room and there were two strangers sitting on it, watching her carefully. One had a scar on his face and black hair, quite handsome. The other looked older and had a beard. Shaw definitely didn’t know them. Besides, their clothes were awful. They were brown, old and both of them were shoeless.

“If this is the afterlife, it sucks,” she muttered, trying to get off the bed, but the pain at her stomach stopped her and she gritted her teeth, grimacing. “Give me my food.”

“Boss didn’t say she was this grumpy,” the older one complained and Shaw rolled her eyes. So Hurley had something to do with this, she guessed.

“That’s because Elias gets his intel from the fat guy,” the other guy pointed out and Shaw frowned, getting back into her bed and covering herself with the really way too thin covers. Who was Elias and why did they refer to Hurley like this? Who the hell were they? “He must have thought it wasn’t important, you know.”

The older guy passed her the food and she grabbed the boiled and bit one of them. She didn’t care they weren’t salty or anything. She was hungry. It was food so it tasted well. She hummed as she bit the egg again, closing her eyes to relish on the feeling of finally having some food in her mouth.

“I’m Scarface and this is Bruce,” the man with the scar said but Shaw didn’t care. “You’re probably wondering where you are,” he stopped, probably waiting for a reaction from Shaw, but she was eating the other egg and she couldn’t care less. “This is the Temple.” Huh, this didn’t look like a temple.

“Marconi, maybe we should bring her girlfriend to see her. She’s been wondering for two days how she was feeling, might be happy to know she woke up,” Bruce said and Shaw frowned. She didn’t have a girlfriend.

“Yeah and we gotta tell the Boss that she’s awake. He wants to talk to her too,” Scarface retorted and both of the men left the room. Shaw didn’t miss their presence. She didn’t know them and didn’t want to know them. And this Temple didn’t look impressive. She wished she could walk.

She heard the door open slowly and then Root was standing on front of her, alive and well and was beaming. She had a bandage on her shoulder, but other than that she seemed to be fine. And she looked splendid. Her hair was up in a bun and she had glasses on her eyes. Such a nerd. Her clothes weren’t as bad as the two men’s but they weren’t the best either and seemed really worn out. But she could wear a bad of garbage and still look amazing. Shaw scolded herself for those thoughts and glared at the woman in front of her.

“Don’t get yourself shot for me again,” the woman muttered, caressing her face and Shaw fidgeted. She didn’t mind the contact, but she couldn’t do that. She didn’t do that. Root’s hand was immediately gone and Shaw internally thanked her that. She sat better on the bed and hissed at the pain it caused her. “You’ll feel better tomorrow,” Root assured her and Shaw glared at her. She was the one with medical history.

“Yeah, sure. With a wound like this, I’ll be in bed for a week, no less,” Shaw retorted, huffing at the adoring look on the other woman’s face. She looked gorgeous when she did that, but she didn’t want her to do it. She wanted her to stop. Stop being so perfect.

“Sameen,” Root scolded her smirking. “I read your file and I know your medical history, but sweetie, you’re wrong. This Island is special, it’s perfect. It can heal you way sooner. You were out just for two days even though with a wound like this you should’ve been out for way longer.”

“Whatever,” mumbled Shaw and Root shook her head.

“You have to believe it. You need to believe it. This Island can help you. Why do you think you never get headaches? Or people heal so quickly?” Root stared at her questioningly with big, curious eyes. Shaw could drown in those eyes. No, she scolded herself, she couldn’t. She wouldn’t. She hated those eyes. “Miracles can happen here. People can be healed from anything! This place is the cure to cancer, to disabilities, to-.”

“Is it the cure to death?” Shaw asked bitterly.

“No. Death is not curable. It’s not an illness. But it’s not the end,” Shaw rolled her eyes. The woman was such a believer. She hated believers. But she looked cute with her glasses, babbling about stupid things. Shaw loved those glasses.

“So you believe in the afterlife, huh?” She huffed and Root grinned.

“Well, I like to believe that even if I die, I can still find you afterwards, somewhere,” she winked – seriously, she should teach that woman how to wink properly – and grinned widely. Shaw wanted to kiss that grin off. She huffed angrily instead.

“Whatever makes you sleep at night, nerd,” Shaw muttered and Root grinned even wider. “Is this Temple good? From what it looks like here, it doesn’t look like anything special.”

“Oh, it’s magnificent. There are children everywhere, happily playing around. And there are also lots of young adults and they train in the backyard. They shoot, they’re trained. They’re the best army this Island has and they know this Island better than anyone else,” Root said happily, her eyes lighting up from excitement.

“So you’re telling me this Temple is not actually a temple?” Shaw frowned.

“Not exactly. It _is_ a temple, but it’s a temple for the hostiles to live in,” Root sighed thoughtfully. “I wish I were a hostile.” Shaw didn’t know who these hostiles were, but if Root wanted to be one of them, she should be allowed to.

She didn’t know when she had started admiring this woman. She had grown on her in those terrible weeks of imprisonment, she guessed. She should hate her, but the anger boiled out and now she just wanted the woman to be happy.

“I would hate their clothing, though,” Root laughed pointing at her clothes. Shaw rolled her eyes, pretending to be annoyed. She wasn’t. Root really looked cute. “You know, it’s weird. I shouldn’t need glasses here, but here I am, wearing glasses because I can’t see well after the explosion.”

“Didn’t you say this Island is special and all?” Shaw noticed and Root shrugged, laying her hand on Shaw’s. Shaw moved her own hand away, falsely annoyed. She really didn’t mind the contact. But she couldn’t admit that. “Maybe you angered it.”

“I’m honestly afraid I did,” Root admitted sadly. Shaw stared at her blankly. She didn’t know what to say. “Anyway, you didn’t ask but everyone who tried to attack us died. They were HR men. The attack was planned. We called Miles to help us and he said they did it because HR promised them money.”

“If they all died, how do you know they did it for money?” Shaw pointed out.

“Miles can hear people’s last thoughts. They were worried that they wouldn’t get their money after all,” Root shrugged standing up from Shaw’s bed. Shaw didn’t miss the contact (she was lying).

“I knew that guy is creepy,” Shaw frowned and Root grinned.

“I have to go now, I’ll see you tomorrow,” she murmured and looked at Shaw hopefully. She didn’t know what she wanted, so she just shrugged and stared at her blankly. Root smiled sadly and left and Shaw huffed, annoyed. If the woman _voiced_ her desires, she wouldn’t have to figure out anything.

The day passed slowly and it pretty boring. Shaw didn’t have anything to do and nobody visited her afterwards except for the two men from before, but she didn’t like them. She wanted to move. As she looked down at her wound, though, she noticed it was healing really quickly. Maybe Root was right. She ate three times that day and it was good food, but there was nothing good to drink. She wanted to taste some liquor. Apparently they don’t give liquor to patients.

She hoped it would get better, honestly.

 

 

 

#####  **Day 47**

**Somewhere In The Pacific, The Island**

**7:04 AM**

 

 

 

Breakfast was amazing: scrambled eggs, bread and water. She noticed they gave her a lot of food with eggs; probably had lots of them here. She didn’t care.

The wound was far better now. There was still a scar and it was a bit red, but it didn’t hurt much and Shaw could finally move. She even got off the bed and tested if she could walk: she could. It still slightly hurt, but Root was right. She did feel better.

She walked to the window and propped on her elbows to look outside. The view was spectacular. There was an enormous ground where kids were playing, laughing and some were even sword-fighting. But that wasn’t the spectacular part of it. Past the playground there was a wall and behind it Shaw could see a lake. It was immense and green, dark, but really wild. Shaw didn’t think anyone could swim in it, but she bet many could swim _on_ it. On a boat obviously, nobody was Jesus here.

She slightly chuckled at her internal joke and looked at the kids again. They looked happy. As if nothing bad was happening. She hated kids, obviously – she hated everyone – but she couldn’t deny it that it was rather nice to see kids playing. Playing the games of war.

There were bushes everywhere, she noted. Lots of trees too and plants in general. A lot of animals as well: from cows to dogs. It was a variety of things. She wouldn’t mind living here. Maybe she should become a hostile, just like Root wanted. The clothes were awful, yes, all ripped and dirty and colourless. Old. But she would exchange those for the Dharma Initiative suits. She couldn’t understand why it was everywhere. For all she knew the actual Dharma Initiative didn’t exist anymore. Why did Hurley want to bring it back? It didn’t make any sense, but she guessed not everything made sense in the world. And certainly not on this Island.

Someone opened the door and she turned around quickly, cutting her fingers in the process and she hissed, but didn’t say anything. It was just a small boy bringing her clothes and a small gun.

“Boss told me to bring you these. He says you can have this all for yourself but he wants to talk to you tomorrow,” the boy said. He was cute. Short with brown hair and brown eyes. He looked around ten or eleven. He seemed nice. But Shaw didn’t like kids, obviously.

“Who’s ‘Boss’?” Shaw questioned and the boy frowned, confused. Oh, she was supposed to know.

“Carl Elias,” he replied. “ _Ile qui nos omnes servabit_ _,_ ” he added and Shaw grimaced. So this boy also spoke Latin. Great. Well, he didn’t look nice anymore. He looked creepy with his eyes widened, staring at her expectantly, probably hoping she would understand what and who he meant. She didn’t.

“Oh, yeah!” She pretended to understand and the boy smiled. It looked more like an evil grin, but to each their own. She took the clothes and the gun from him and he nodded.

“I hope to see you in the backyard!” He smiled and hopped off the room, leaving Shaw confused. She shook her head and looked down at the clothes. They were awful, just like his. He didn’t even wear shoes and they didn’t give her shoes either.

She wondered where she was supposed to take a shower but then noticed a tub full of water and she figured out she had to wash herself in that.

She touched the water with her bare foot and shrugged, because it wasn’t bad. She entered the tub but it wasn’t big enough for her, so she quickly washed all of her parts and luckily found a bar of soap on the bottom of the tub. She couldn’t wash her hair, but didn’t care. It wasn’t that bad, she washed it three days ago if what Root said was true and she had truly only slept for two days. When she came out of the tub, she noticed there was no blanket to dry herself and wore the clothes on her wet body. It wasn’t the best, but she’s had worse.

She tried to dry her feet on the covers of her bed and slowly made her way out of the room. The dust on her feet didn’t feel good, but she ignored it. The building itself wasn’t bad. Apparently this was the only room on the first floor because most of the rooms were either underground or outside of the temple. Her room was a “hospital” room and apparently they only had one.

The walls were made of stone and they looked really ancient. They were full of dust and holes. She saw different carvings on them but she didn’t recognize them. They looked Egyptian. Or something like that. She shrugged; she didn’t care.

She walked past a few elderly people talking to each other, some playing cards and she didn’t care about them. They were peaceful. How were they the best army?

She stepped out of the temple and the fresh air hit her in a positive way. She liked it. Her hair flew in her face, but she didn’t care. Sure, walking barefoot on a playground full of branches and glass wasn’t the best idea, but she noticed the kids didn’t care much about it, hitting each other with wooden swords. She stopped, looking at them. Until she noticed a little girl – she had red hair and long, white, dirty dress, barefoot – waving at her and she followed her.

The girl disappeared after a while, but Shaw followed her trace. She walked past the temple and into the bushes. She got hit by a few branches in her face and cursed about that, but kept following the girl. It was not that she was curious, nope. She just saw something suspicious and had to observe that.

The girl reappeared, waving at her and Shaw followed her and there were black walls surrounding here and they were getting thinner and thinner and suddenly Shaw saw a green field. Her eyes lit up as she noticed targets and people shooting with rifles, guns, bows. She grinned and the girl approached her.

“I’m Gen. Boss told me to bring you here,” she smiled widely and Shaw grimaced. She really didn’t like kids. “I think you have to teach me how to shoot!”

Oh, hell no. She did not just hear that. Shaw shook her, glaring at the girl. Gen smiled expectantly and Shaw rolled her eyes. “Alright, kiddo, but only this once.”

Gen bounced up and down happily and took Shaw by a hand – and Shaw had to admit that she didn’t mind it that much – and led her to one of the farthest targets. It was one with the target way too close. It was red, blue and white and Shaw waited for further commands. She didn’t know when she had become a nanny for hostile kids, but she guessed there was a first for everything.

Gen picked up a pistol from the grass and gave it to Shaw, who frowned at that. What would she need it for? “Show me how you shoot so I can know if I have a good teacher. Hit the red part of the target!” Gen ordered and Shaw rolled her eyes.

She positioned herself in front of the target. The sound of other people shooting calmed her, but she noticed the girl flinching at every sound of gunfire. She shrugged at that. She pointed the gun at the red target and checked if she could see her target perfectly in the rear. When she was happy with the position and the weight of the gun, she clicked the safety and pulled the trigger. The bullet hit perfectly the centre of the target and she saw a thoughtful smile on the girl’s face. This wasn’t a difficult shot.

“This was very slow,” Gen pointed out after a while and Shaw glared at her, slightly offended by that. “Try again and be faster.”

Shaw rolled her eyes put positioned herself again. She pointed the gun, saw the target in the rear and immediately pulled the trigger. Again, it was a perfect shot. She glanced at the girl, expecting her to be surprised, proud, but she was thoughtful again.

“Nope, too slow. Try again,” Gen shrugged, putting her small hands on her waist. Shaw raised her eyebrows, but didn’t say anything. Well, the girl certainly had game in her.

She repeated the actions from before, slightly smoother and quicker and the shot turned out to be perfect again. When Gen said something negative again, Shaw repeated the action. Again and again until she ran out of ammo and Gen smirked.

“This was great. See? You can be fast if someone pushes you well,” she grinned and Shaw grimaced.

“I thought I was supposed to teach _you_ ,” she noticed and the girl shrugged, picking up a rifle from the grass.

“Try this now,” she gave the rifle, slightly struggling because of the weight of it.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Shaw mumbled, testing the rifle on herself. It wasn’t bad. It weighed a bit too much, but as she positioned herself well, it wasn’t that bad. The weight of it went all on her left biceps and she huffed. The target was already full of bullets and it was way too close, but she didn’t care. She didn’t have anything to demonstrate to this girl, she didn’t want to impress her, but she wouldn’t say no to holding a real, old rifle.

“Okay, shoot,” Gen scolded her and Shaw rolled her eyes, annoyed. She looked at her target through the rear and slowly unlocking the safety, she pulled the trigger. It wasn’t the fastest shot, but it was good. It didn’t hit the centre of the target, but almost and Shaw wasn’t satisfied. The girl wasn’t either. “Try again.”

Shaw positioned herself again, pulled the trigger and repeated the action until it was smooth enough for the girl. Everyone was looking at them now. Someone was pointing at her and she could swear she spotted Root somewhere. She couldn’t be sure, though.

“Okay, you’re good,” Gen complimented her. She nodded and Shaw frowned at that. “Now, teach me how you do that.”

“That’s it? No shooting with the bow lessons and then maybe throwing sticks?” Shaw asked sarcastically and Gen shook her head hastily.

“No, obviously no. I’m only ten. We can only be taught how to shoot with an arrow around fifteen,” the girl admitted and Shaw raised her eyebrows. Well, they sure did teach their kids early how to be ‘hostile’.

“Okay, kiddo, whatever,” Shaw rolled her eyes, annoyed. The girl reminded her way too much of Root. “Pick up that gun,” she ordered. The girl immediately complied, wincing as the gun was way too big for her small hands. Shaw positioned herself behind the short girl and put her hands on her shoulders. “Point the gun at the target. Can you see the target in the rear?”

“Rear?” The girl asked, confused. Shaw sighed heavily, but showed Gen where the rear was. When she finally understood, she pointed the gun at the target and Shaw couldn’t see it, but she could imagine the girl closing one eye to look better at the target. She herself always did that when shooting at targets.

“Now, you have to click the safety,” Shaw whispered and the girl nodded awkwardly, clicking the safety as hard as she could. It worked. Her hands were trembling because of the heaviness of the gun, but she stood there, ready to follow Shaw’s commands. Shaw wanted to make her suffer a bit, wait, make her hands tremble a little more, but she sighed and said, “Pull the trigger.” The girl complied immediately, accidentally moving the gun a bit left and not hitting the desired spot. She didn’t at least miss the target.

“This was an awful shot,” the girl cried and Shaw shrugged. It was, but it certainly wasn’t Shaw’s fault. “I’ll try again,” she announced proudly.

Shaw stepped away from her, deciding not to help her this time, hoping the girl remembered how to show now. “Go,” she told her and Gen positioned herself, closed one eye, curled up her tiny nose and with trembling hands, she pulled the trigger. Again, she missed the centre of the target, hitting the white zone of it. She cried out, frustrated.

She repeated the action a few times and every time she missed the centre by a bit. “You need to catch a break,” Shaw noticed and Gen shook her head.

“No, I need to hit the centre,” she mused and positioned herself again. Her hands were trembling even more now, but she forced them to stay put. Shaw watched as the girl intently watched the rear, breathing through her mouth. She pursued her lips, breathed through her nose and pulled the trigger. The shot was a perfect one. It hit the centre of the target with a loud bang and a few people cheered. Shaw felt a bit proud too, but she wouldn’t admit it.

“Nothing makes you flinch,” the girl noticed, furrowing her brows. Shaw sighed and rolled her eyes. “You look like a robot.”

“Yeah, I’m a robot from the future come to teach you kids how to shoot guns properly,” Shaw snapped, annoyed. Gen seemed to like that idea, because she grinned widely and put the gun down on the grass.

“I think Boss is going to like you. I hope he does, maybe then he’ll decide to help you guys. He seems to like the nerdy one, but she’s way too secretive for his liking,” the girl told her. “You, on the other hand, are an open book. He’ll like you.”

“Seriously?” Shaw raised her eyebrows, offended. She definitely wasn’t an open book. She wasn’t an open anything.

“Of course you are, he’ll like you,” the girl smiled.

“I don’t know why it’s so important that ‘Boss’ here has to like me,” Shaw pointed out, huffing. The girl gasped at that and she noticed some people fidgeting too. Guess this was taboo.

“He’s all knowing. He can talk to the Island itself, some say. He’s clever, tall, smart and muscular. He hasn’t come out of his office for a few years now, but sometimes he sends us messages. He tells us to never stop training. He says we need to prepare for the final battle. The battle of Good and Evil. White player and Black player,” the girl babbled. Oh, she was totally like Root.

“He’s not exactly like that, Genrika, but he’s pretty great. He’s clever, I’ll give him that. Definitely not tall or muscular though,” Root interrupted them, smirking. Speak of the devil... “He’s right about the final battle. The Island itself has to fight herself. The Evil side trying to destroy the Good side. Sounds like bullshit to you, Sameen, I know, but it’s not.” The nerdy woman glanced at Shaw and Shaw rolled her eyes. She seriously didn’t care. “I don’t think HR is the Evil side. Not the big picture of it, at least. Elias agrees. So yeah, he’s quite great. And yeah, sweetie, I do think too you need to get into his liking.”

“I don’t care about a muscular, clever, smart, tall or whatever guy. I wanna fight,” Shaw huffed and Root nodded.

“You needn’t fear. You’ll fight soon enough. But for now Elias wants to meet you. He won’t let us out of here until he talks to you,” Root said. Oh, so it was Shaw’s fault that a dude wanted to meet her.

“What about Hugo? Why isn’t he the one who’ll save us all or something?” Shaw questioned and Root shrugged.

“The ‘hostiles’ don’t believe in Hurley, not really. I mean, they don’t think he’s real. But they know Elias is so they believe in him. He’s like their modern Jesus and Hurley is their God... And I guess Ben is the Holy Spirit,” Root chuckled at her own joke and Shaw grimaced. This woman had an awful sense of humour.

“How come they have never seen Hurley and Ben?” Shaw asked, staring at Root’s beautiful, angelic face. Her nose was truly a masterpiece.

“They never come to the Temple. When they do, they pretend to be someone else. Guess they don’t want to be famous or something. Or killed,” Root shrugged.

This place was definitely weird.

“And this Elias guy?”

“He was a mob leader once, now the hostile leader. Quite an improvement. Has an army, clever, can play chess and is really short. And balding. Modern Jesus, as I said,” Root said. Oh yeah, that definitely looked like a modern Jesus. Totally. Shaw shook her head in disbelief.

She still needed to get used to this place.

“Need some shooting lessons?” Shaw mumbled.

Root smiled at her and Shaw didn’t like the look Gen gave them, but she didn’t care. She stared deeply into Root’s eyes and hoped the woman would stop being this secretive one day. But she also didn’t want her to stop. She was perfect this way. She liked her, she guessed.

And she was going to be one hell of a teacher to her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again!
> 
> I sadly noticed how few people read this story, but I'm not gonna stop posting just because people don't like it. You're gonna have to bear my presence a while longer.  
> If you like this story, give me feedback! I know some people don't like doing that, but it honestly would make me _so_ happy!
> 
> Agni.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has explicit sexual content, so if you don't like it, you can only read half of it.

#####  **Day 48**

**Somewhere In The Pacific, The Island**

**9:25 AM**

 

 

 

“No, you need move your arm like,” Shaw put her hand on Root’s arm and moved it with her, “this.” Root’s breathing wasn’t even and Shaw felt a bit breathless too as she put her leg between Root’s legs, positioning herself better against the woman’s body. She fit perfectly.

“And now?” Root squealed, breathing sharply as Shaw put her hand on Root’s left arm. Shaw puffed against Root’s neck and Shaw heard the woman swallow hardly. She also heard her mumble something, but she couldn’t tell what it was.

“You need to position the arrow on your thumb,” she whispered and Root nodded fervently, doing just as told. Shaw hummed happily. “Now... Position yourself as best as you can so you can hit the target.”

Shaw put her hands on Root’s hips and helped the woman find the right position. She observed the target and she hoped the woman wouldn’t miss it. She had helped her more than needed, honestly and she didn’t want her to do wrong. It wasn’t like she regretted this, but she just didn’t want this to be a failure. “Can I let go now?”

“Yes,” Shaw whispered, noting as the other woman shivered and Root let go of the arrow. It flew smoothly, slightly curving itself in the flight and it didn’t hit the centre, but it hit the blue part, which wasn’t that bad. Root grinned and leaned into Shaw’s body. “You could’ve done better,” Shaw noticed. “But it was your best shot.”

“Maybe you should keep teaching me like this, sweetie,” she murmured. “I don’t mind it when your body parts are pressed against my body, although maybe we should consider a better position.” Shaw’s centre throbbed as she thought about the proposition. She decided against it and moved away from Root, shaking her head.

“Pick up another arrow and try again,” ordered Shaw. Root pouted and turned to look at Shaw. There was a glint of _something_ in her eyes. Then Root’s gaze dropped at Shaw’s exposed belly and she blushed, licking her lips. Shaw rolled her eyes annoyingly but actually didn’t mind it that much.

They had given her kid clothes in the morning, but at least they had let her have a proper bath in a stream nearby and she even washed her hair. Only, the clothes were really short. The shirt barely covered her body and the shorts were so short and tight, she barely moved in them. And of course, again no shoes. The only good thing they gave her to wear was the underwear and she also washed her old one. It was too wet now, obviously, but she had put it on the window to dry itself.

Root wasn’t dressed innocently either. Her shirt was ripped, showing off her small breasts a bit and she wore no bra. Also, her shorts were pulled up, giving Shaw a nice view of her very long legs. They were really long – Shaw was 85% sure Root was 70% made of legs – and recently shaved, Shaw noticed. Her clit throbbed again at the thought of those long legs around her hips. Or her shoulders, while she would eat the woman’s pussy. She shook her head. She wouldn’t eat her pussy.

Root’s voice woke her up from her transit, as she shook her head again, adverting her gaze from Root’s legs. They really weren’t doing any good to her. “If I don’t behave will I get punished?” Root asked innocently, ogling Shaw’s chest. Her eyes were bigger than usual and the pupils were dilated. Shaw knew the technical term of that: arousal. Root was aroused.

“No,” Shaw shook her head, pursuing her lips. She didn't do punishing. Root pouted again, but positioned herself with the bow in her left hand and an arrow in the right one. She “winked” and smirked, pulled the string, caught the nocking point of it and positioned the arrow on her fist. Then, she glanced at Shaw, who huffed annoyingly. “Do I have to repeat you what to do?”

“Only if you do it the way you did before,” she murmured, smirking. Shaw shook her head, putting her hands on her exposed hips and stared at Root. Her cheeks were still flushed and her beautiful lips were redder, as she kept licking them nervously. Her nose was still a miracle and Shaw couldn’t stop admiring it. Also, her hair was tied in a bun. She didn’t wear glasses, but Shaw could see that the woman was struggling with her sight and crinkling her eyes a bit. She found it cute. No, she didn’t find anything cute.

“Move your ass, nerd, show me what you can do,” she ordered and Root smiled mischievously, pulling the string harder, giving Shaw a nice view of Root’s muscles. She didn’t have visible muscles if she didn’t do anything, but in the moment, pulling the string, her biceps were really nice. Really nice. She wanted to touch them. And more.

“It’d be really nice if you’d help me again, you know, position yourself behind me, whisper sweet nothings in my ear...” Root mused, pulling the string ever harder, showing off her biceps and grinning as Shaw’s pupils dilated with lust. She concentrated herself on Root’s hands instead, breathing in sharply as she imagined them wrapped around her throat. This wasn’t good.

“Just shoot that damn arrow, because I’ve got other things to do,” she snapped, covering her arousal with anger. It worked, as Root pouted and looked at the target wrinkling her eyes. She let go of the arrow and it hit the center of the target. Shaw raised her eyebrows, impressed. “How did you do that?”

“I-,” Root tried to explain herself but Shaw already got it. She cocked her head to one side and pursued her lips in disapproval.

“You tricked me,” she pointed out and Root shrugged. “People don’t trick me.”

“I’m not ‘people’,” Root noticed. “And I did not trick you. You wanted to be a teacher to me and I merely complied.”

“You pretended not to know how to shoot an arrow. I don’t call that ‘merely complying’,” Shaw frowned. She didn’t get tricked. People never got away with that. She glared at Root, because she didn’t mind helping her. It was nice being wrapped around her from behind, whispering her how to shoot an arrow- No, it was awful. She minded it very much. She didn’t want that. Besides, she wasn’t the big spoon. She would’ve liked it better if Root had been the one behind her. Possibly doing something else. Maybe kissing her neck, biting it, touching Shaw’s inner thighs- She shook her head. She was getting sexually frustrated. She needed to get off as soon as possible. And she sure as hell wasn’t going to ask Root to help her with that. She could get herself off very well.

“Whatever makes you sleep at night, sweetie,” Root smirked. “As I recall, you have a meeting with Elias in two hours so maybe I should let you prepare yourself for that. Don’t sweat, Sameen, he’s not that bad.”

“I don’t sweat,” Shaw huffed, rolling her eyes in annoyance.

“You will if I take you to bed someday,” Root “winked”, licking her lips hungrily. Shaw wanted that tongue on herself. Seriously, she hadn’t expected this teaching session to be this sexually charged. She could orgasm if Root slightly just touched her in the right spot. She wanted her to do that.

“That’ll never happen,” Shaw grumbled.

“We’ll see about that, sweetie,” Root said and throwing the bow to the ground, she approached Shaw. Shaw could feel her heart-beat speed up its rate as Root put her hands on Shaw’s cheeks. Root seemed to be feeling the same. The taller woman leaned in, staring into Shaw’s big, curious eyes. Root’s eyes were full of lust and _something_ and Shaw hoped the woman would just crash her lips on hers. She wouldn’t take anything else. Root seemed to think about the same thing, but when she closed the distance between them, she kissed Shaw’s cheek instead. Softly, her lips touching Shaw’s skin lightly, like a feather, but it caught Shaw off-guard anyway.

Root’s lips stayed on Shaw’s cheek for a while, Root’s hands on her jaw, but when Shaw thought about turning her head to just kiss her on the lips, Root withdrew, with the same look still on her face. Shaw really wanted to kiss her, but then Root was gone and she just stood there with her lips parted as she thought about the missed opportunity, angrily.

She picked up a gun, deciding to shoot some targets to boil out the anger but after hitting the center of almost every target, she got bored. She walked slowly to her room, then, hoping they left her some clothes.

The walk wasn’t pleasant and her feet were hurt from all the branches and pieces of glasses she walked on. Also, she really didn’t it when insects ended up in her eyes or nose and they did that a lot. She grimaced as she walked through the playground, glaring at the kids. They were already having fun and she just wanted them to stop. It’d be so nice if they stopped.

She grumbled, looking at the high walls instead. They were really majestic and old and it wasn’t the first time she wondered where they had come from. Who built them? She didn’t know. Maybe Root would know, she should ask her.

The Temple itself was interesting too, but they didn’t let her go downstairs were someone said they cured people. Not her, apparently, because her situation hadn’t been as critical. She figured it had to be some other hospital room, although she thought the only medical room was hers.

She shrugged, realizing it truly was none of her business and stepped into the building, cursing softly as a tiny piece of glass hurt her, digging deeper into her skin. She put a hand on the wall beside her and raised her foot to take out the tiny glass. She saw blood on her foot but didn’t care and, cutting her fingers slightly, she took out the glass. She didn’t make any sounds, but she saw someone staring at her, preoccupied.

“What do you want? Give me some shoes and I won’t have to worry about glass in my fucking feet,” Shaw snapped angrily, glaring at the old man. He had a creepy smile on his face and she glared even more. “Stop staring, old creep.”

“I’m merely watching the actions of new recruits,” he said in a British accent. She pursued her lips, eyeing him angrily. He was full of wrinkles. She didn’t mean in as in: ‘old person with the normal amount of wrinkles’; she meant it as in: ‘old person with the triple amount of wrinkles than anybody else’. His face was _all_ wrinkles. And he had really small blue eyes. He looked really creepy. “Be careful, Sameen, some people are disposable.”

Shaw gritted her teeth, eyeing her angrily. How the fuck did an old creep know her name? She hated him already. She wanted to punch the hell out of him. A loud whistle stopped her and she glanced in the direction of who whistled.

It was the girl. Gen was smiling at someone or something and soon enough a dog appeared. He was brown and a bit black and looked really awesome. Shaw smiled. She loved dogs. The girl was scratching him behind the ears and he was whining happily and Shaw wanted to wrap her hands around that dog and steal him away from the girl. She needed a dog more anyway.

“Sameen,” the man called her and she glared at him, waiting. “Remember not to have weaknesses. In a war, they can be very dangerous.” With that said, he stood up and joined a few other elderly men to play cards. Shaw watched after him, frowning.

She didn’t have weaknesses. She didn’t like or love or care about anybody. She shrugged and went to her room.

The door to the room was mid-open and when Shaw entered, she found the creepy boy from the day before standing there with new clothes. They were clean clothes: white shirt, black shorts and – most of all – shoes. They didn’t give her any socks but she didn’t care about that and immediately snatched the clothes from the boy’s hands.

“Have a good day, Shaw,” the boy let immediately after that, bouncing up and down like he had the day before. Shaw didn’t like him. He was cute, of course, but there was something about him that just felt wrong. Or maybe Shaw had a feeling he’d get abducted soon. Either way, she thought about keeping an eye on him. She noticed he didn’t go to the playground and even though she spotted him once in the backyard staring at her, she didn’t pay much attention to it. She didn’t even know his name and in all honesty, she didn’t care about it, but she kind of wanted to know it, just because.

She sat on her bed and slowly undressed herself. The panties she wore were really big and she hated them, but she just cringed and put on the black shorts the boy gave her. Then, she put on the shoes, grimacing as her foot touched the bottom and the bruise from before hurt. She stood up and took off her shirt, walking to the window to take down the underwear. She wanted to wear her own bra, so she unclasped the one she wore and- the door opened.

Shaw wasn’t one to worry about dignity, so she didn’t cover herself as Root entered the room, smirking. She eyed Shaw’s breasts hungrily and Shaw glared at her, not bothering to cover her breasts. She truly didn’t care if the woman was literally eating her alive with her eyes. And she was angry for before.

Instead, she looked at Root’s left hand that held a gorgeous old pistol. She smiled at that, biting her lower lip. She really loved guns. Root approached her, giving her the gun and Shaw waited until the woman was done staring. It didn’t happen.

“Is that all?” Shaw asked hastily, turning around to put on her bra and Root helped her clasp it, without permission. Shaw was still angry.

“I- nothing,” Root stuttered, caressing Shaw’s back. “I’m sorry I left like that before, She called me,” she explained and Shaw turned around, frowning at Root.

“She? Your girlfriend?” She didn’t care. She didn’t care if Root was seeing someone. She just didn’t like mixed signals. Root smirked and licked her lips, staring at Shaw’s.

“Something more,” she replied and Shaw tensed, going to her bed to put on her shirt. It was a cotton one and it was very comfortable. She relished in the feeling of an actual shirt on her skin and didn’t say anything to Root. She didn’t want to know if the woman was married or something like that. It would be wrong to ask too. And Root didn’t wear a ring anyway, so it was Root’s fault if she thought the woman would be single. The flirting, the almost kiss- Shaw shook her head, glaring at Root. “I can’t tell you.”

“I don’t care,” Shaw snapped, annoyed. Maybe it wasn’t a girlfriend. But she wanted Root to trust her. “Go now, I need to meet Boss.”

“Good luck with that! You might-,” Root grinned, starting to babble about him but Shaw shut her up with an angry glare. Root pursued her lips and raised her eyebrows. “Okay.”

“Well?” Shaw hurried her. She wanted a moment for herself to think before she met Boss.

“I wanted to say goodbye to you,” Root admitted. “Earlier on and now too.” Shaw frowned but didn’t say anything. “Boss is gonna tell you anyway, but they assigned John, Carter, Ben and I to go to the Pearl to talk to Harold and then- do whatever the plan requires. Elias is gonna explain everything to you and Hugo too, probably. Anyway,” she paused, glancing at Shaw. Shaw didn’t really want this speech, “there’s a high probability of me not making out of this alive. She says they could abduct me and to avoid that, I’ll have to die.”

“Who’s ‘She’ and why does she get to decide who lives and who dies?” Shaw question angrily. She hated Her, whoever She was.

“I cannot tell you, Sameen. I want to, but She doesn’t want me to.” She shook her head, taking off her glasses. “Anyway, I’m going tonight and I didn’t know if you’d have time, so-,” she was cut off by Shaw’s lips on hers – who didn’t miss her opportunity this time. Root didn’t react immediately, but Shaw pushed her tongue between Root’s lips and the woman moaned, replying to the kiss with the same fervor. Shaw’s hands moved to the back of Root’s neck, pulling her closer, to deepen the kiss and she didn’t expect it to feel so good, but as Root’s hands started roaming on Shaw’s body, pulling up her shirt, she grunted. She loosened Root's bun, letting her hair out of it.

The taller woman broke off the kiss, staring deeply into Shaw’s eyes and Shaw wanted her to crash her lips against hers again. The woman’s eyes were so full of lust and adoration and Shaw pulled her down again, angrily, kissing her passionately. Their teeth clanked together, as Root started pushing Shaw against the bed. Shaw immediately wrapped her legs around her – somehow managing to take off her shoes in the process –, when she ended up on the bed with the hot woman above her, breathing sharply.

Shaw panted as Root bit her on the jaw, sucking on the spot. She grabbed her hair, writhing underneath her. Root moved down, kissing Shaw’s neck, sucking right under her earlobe and Shaw moaned loudly, when Root’s lips were replaced by her teeth and then her tongue, licking the spot slowly.

“Put your hands aside and don’t touch me,” Root panted against Shaw’s neck and Shaw obeyed immediately, grabbing the sheets to hold herself still. Root’s hands on the other hand, pulled Shaw’s shirt up and she had to stop sucking on her for a moment to take off the shirt. Shaw already missed the contact, but when Root unclasped her bra and took one of her nipples between her fingers, she didn’t think about anything at all. Root went back to kissing her neck, slowly making her way to her breasts. She nipped at almost every spot on Shaw’s skin and it left the smaller woman squirming, grabbing at the sheets as hard as she could.

Root replaced her fingers by her mouth on the other nipple, circling it with her tongue and Shaw moaned abruptly when Root bit it, drawing some blood. She sucked on it too, eliciting louder moans from the smaller woman. Shaw liked the pain and the sting was nice, the feeling immediately going to her throbbing centre.

Shaw whined, thrusting against Root’s hips and Root hummed, pushing her pants and her panties both down, leaving the smaller woman totally exposed. Shaw kicked off the garments and cried out softly when Root’s mouth left her nipples, kissing her abdomen.

“Open your legs for me, sweetie,” Root whispered huskily and Shaw nodded, widening her legs open for Root. She was a mess and when Root touched her inner thighs, she almost begged. She didn’t do begging, but she could for Root- Root’s head was already between her thighs and Shaw moaned loudly, waiting for the woman to do something to her throbbing center, but the woman seemed to enjoy just teasing.

Root licked her inner thighs, eliciting a groan from Shaw, who grabbed the sheets even harder, panting loudly. Root’s mouth was a living miracle, kissing all the right spots, but not the one Shaw needed her mouth on the most. She started thrusting her hips, hoping the woman would get the hint – which she did, smirking – but she propped on her elbows, crawled up and leaned in to kiss the shorter woman on the mouth instead. She nibbled her lower lip, dragging it a bit down to draw blood on it. Shaw hissed but when Root replaced her teeth with her tongue, she moaned. She still couldn’t touch Root, so she didn’t, but she wanted the woman to finally use that amazing tongue on her somewhere else. Her clit was throbbing and she could feel herself getting wetter and hotter.

“Fuck me, Root,” Shaw growled, panting louder, almost moaning, as Root put her hand between her legs and stroked her almost on the right spot, but not really. Root grinned, pecking her on the lips, before going down on her quickly.

She grabbed Shaw’s legs and put them around her shoulders and licked Shaw’s abdomen, slowly going down. She sucked on Shaw’s clit, circling her tongue around the bundle of nerves and Shaw couldn’t control herself anymore – not that she did before, really –, as she started saying ‘fuck’ repeatedly and Root complied with a smirk on her lips. She sucked on the labia earning a loud groan from Shaw who started thrusting her hips involuntarily into Root’s face. The woman lapped her tongue loudly on Shaw’s pussy, putting her tongue in her vagina, going as deep as she could. The smaller woman cried, wanting more.

“Fingers,” she growled huskily but Root didn’t obey, sucking on her clit instead, softly. She preferred it rough and Root seemed to know it and seemed to relish in the teasing. She bucked up her hips harder, bumping against Root’s nose and the woman groaned but finally put two fingers in Shaw. Her clit clenched around Root’s fingers and she cried softly as Root started pushing the fingers in and out, slowly at first, but when she growled in complaint, the woman sped up the pace, making her writhe. She locked her legs around Root’s shoulder even more and panted repeatedly, trying to keep breathing steady as Root’s tongue worked magic on her clit.

She could feel her orgasm build and she breathed heavily, begging for another finger. “Since you asked so nicely,” was all Root said, sending vibrations on her clit with her voice and another finger was added, still pushing in and out. Root’s fingers were perfect for this job: long and slim and she thanked God for them, if he existed. He had to exist if she was here, having sex with the hottest woman ever- Root thrusted one last time, sucking on her clit hardly and Shaw came hardly, squeezing her eyes shut, almost blacking out.

She slowly recovered from the orgasm, as Root stroked her thigh, crawling up to kiss her. The sleeping after the orgasm was slowly making space for arousal again and she replied to the kiss passionately. If she had anything against post-orgasm kisses, she didn’t now. She hooked her leg around Root’s waist and waited for any protests, but the woman didn’t say anything, moaning lowly. Their positions were turned immediately, with Shaw on top and Root on bottom, both of them panting.

“You don’t do anything unless I tell you to,” Root ordered.

“Yes ma’am.”

“Good. Kiss my neck,” she ordered, breathing in sharply when Shaw did as told. The shorter woman really appreciated the orders. She laid her lips on Root’s neck, sucking on the skin. The smell of it was intoxicating and she bit hard on it, eliciting a long moan from Root, who started bucking her hips up. “Stop. Kiss me.” Her voice was throaty, sexy and Shaw could feel herself getting wet again. She obeyed though, kissing her roughly on the lips, their tongues exploring each other’s mouths. It was messy and exciting, but Root pushed her, panting.

“Now, take off my clothes, but leave the panties on.” Shaw nodded, trailing a line on Root’s jaw before she started taking off her clothes quickly, ripping the shirt apart. The pants were off soon too and Root laid on her bed with her hands on her face and only her panties on.

Her breasts were small, just the way Shaw liked them. She glanced pleadingly at Root who nodded, putting her hands on Shaw’s back. The feeling of Root’s soft skin on her mouth mesmerized her, as she took one of her nipples in her mouth and sucked on it. If the sounds Root made were any sign of it, the taller woman was really appreciating this action and Shaw breathing in heavily through her nose, taking the other nipple in her mouth. She sucked on this one too. Her mouth made its way down, but Root grabbed her by the hair and Shaw stopped.

“Go back to my breasts,” she commanded and Shaw obeyed happily, circling her tongue around the hardened nipples. She bit one of them and Root hissed, but didn’t say anything, so Shaw sucked on it, sure it would leave a mark. Root’s nails would leave marks on Shaw’s back too, but Shaw didn’t mind, continuing to work on the nipples.

“Stop. Take off my panties,” growled Root and Shaw put her hands on the fabric of the panties, but Root patted them off. “With your teeth. Don’t be gentle.” Shaw hummed and propped on her elbows between Root’s widely open legs and pulled on the fabric with her teeth. The smell of Root’s arousal reached her nostrils and she breathed in, dragging the fabric down, first on one side, then the other; Root did the rest and Shaw stared at Root’s center hungrily.

“Now, baby,” the pet name sounded really ferocious in Root’s husky voice now, but it only made Shaw wetter. Hell, she didn’t know she liked pet names. “Eat my pussy.” And she didn’t know being commanded like this would make her so wet, but she knelt down and put her head between Root’s long legs. She touched her butt, waiting for a protest, but that didn’t happen. She squeezed the woman’s ass, eliciting a moan and tasted Root with the tip of her tongue. The woman even tasted well, shit.

Loud moans filled the room as Shaw lazily dragged her tongue on Root’s clit. She sucked on the bundle of nerves, humming as Root put her hands on her hair, bucking her hips up involuntarily. Circling her tongue around her clit, she stroked the woman’s pussy with her fingers and Root bucked up harder.

Root cried out loudly, decency not her best suit apparently and Shaw bit her inner thighs, leaving marks. She wanted to mark the woman and her skin was like porcelain, getting red immediately. She slipped her tongue in the woman’s pussy as deep as she could and by the hard thrusts of Root’s hips, the woman liked this very much.

Shaw felt a very strong need to put her fingers inside, sucking harder on her clit, but Root didn’t say anything about that, so she didn’t. She gripped the woman’s ass harder, loudly lapping her tongue on her clit. The woman’s thrusts were now more desperate, stronger and she could feel her orgasm building.

“Put a finger in me, Sameen,” Root moaned, scratching Shaw’s head with her fingernails to grab on her hair stronger. Shaw complied excitedly, slipping one finger in. Root’s pussy immediately clenched around her and soon enough, with a few pushes in and out, Root came loudly, screaming Shaw’s name. It was melody to Shaw’s ears, who didn’t stop sucking on her clit, to draw the orgasm as long as she could. Root was having the post-orgasm spasms and Shaw glanced at her. She was a sight: her hair was on Shaw’s pillow, her long neck was sweaty and had a big, red mark on it; her lips were parted and her eyes were closed as she breathed heavily.

Shaw slipped out the finger, cleaned her face from Root’s cum on the sheets and crawled up. She didn’t do cuddling, but Root seemed to need it, so she put her hand around the woman’s waist and laid her head on her chest, breathing in the smell of Root’s skin. Their legs hooked together and Shaw felt Root’s hand making lazy patterns on her back. She wasn’t a fan of this, but Root’s body was warm and slim and she could almost understand why people liked it. Almost.

Root put her hand under Shaw’s chin and Shaw looked up, staring into the woman’s beautiful, glassy eyes. She kissed her on the lips, dragging the kiss as long as she could. “Sameen,” Root panted and Shaw’s knee involuntarily stroked Root’s already wet again center. “Ready for round two?”

“I’m ready when you are.”

She had found her weakness, but she didn't care now, as she let the woman turn their positions again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, if you appreciated this chapter, give me some feedback, please.  
> It makes me really happy and it doesn't take much time. :)


	9. Chapter 9

#####  **Day 48**

**Somewhere In The Pacific, The Island**

**11:59 AM**

 

 

Shaw sighed, glancing at Root who looked quite pleased of herself. She had just fucked Shaw from behind, recalling their earlier moment when Shaw was pressed against her teaching her how to shoot an arrow. Her long fingers thrusting in her pussy... Shaw wouldn’t admit it, but this was the best sex she’d ever had.

“Next time, I’m going to tie to my bed and fuck you in the ass,” Root promised, kissing Shaw’s neck.

Shaw groaned in pleasure, but stopped herself from another round. She wasn’t ready. She was sore. But the thought of Root’s long fingers in her ass was quite exciting and she breathed in heavily. “You’d like that? My long fingers, thrusting in and out of your tight ass, my other hand spanking you... You’d be so loud, so wet for me and I’d eat you out after that. You’d sit on my face,” she mused, tracing a pattern with her tongue on Shaw’s shoulder. Her voice was low and Shaw panted.

“Fuck, Root, just do that already,” she cursed, groaning when Root stroked her fingers against her clit. She was already close to an orgasm and Root was only touching her. It was obvious she was sensible after the two rounds, but she didn’t think she was _that_ sensible.

Suddenly Root sat up abruptly, covering her ears and Shaw stared at her, surprised. The woman seemed to be in pain and Shaw didn’t know what to do. She sat up as well, laying a hand on Root’s shoulder, hoping it would help. The woman seemed to relax under Shaw’s care and Shaw stared at her, waiting for an explanation.

“She’s angry,” Root whispered. Her eyes were glassy and she stood up, getting dressed quickly. Shaw noted as the woman borrowed her kid shirt from before and she frowned, but didn’t say anything. “She wants me to go immediately. And uh, there’s someone waiting for you outside.”

“Wait, where are you going?”

“On my mission, sweetie. Goodbye,” she cupped Shaw’s cheeks and kissed her deeply, exploring Shaw’s mouth with her tongue. Shaw moaned, dragging her down on herself, but Root pushed her, pursuing her lips. “I hope to see you again, Sameen.”

“Yeah,” Shaw said, grumpy. She didn’t like this one bit.

“Don’t be grumpy, I’ll do my best to get back to you and finish this,” Shaw rolled her eyes. Whatever.

“I’m fine, Root,” she huffed, standing up to look for her clothes. Her legs felt a bit off and they were still sore, just like her back, but it wasn’t a bad feeling. “You can go now.” She felt Root’s gaze on her ass and she covered the smirk that started appearing on her face.

“You’re right,” was all Root said. “Duty calls.”

Shaw rolled her eyes and picked up her clothes. She was still fully naked and she sort of hoped Root would stare at her, but the woman spared her a glance and left the room. Shaw heard her say something to someone, but she couldn’t figure out what it was.

Her clothes were slightly dirty now but she didn’t care. The panties were attached to the pants and she put them on quickly. The bra was probably the dirtiest, but she put it on and clasped it anyway. As for the shirt, it was quite clean, still on the bed, but it smelled of sex and it had some cum on it. Shaw didn’t dare wonder whose it was.

Putting on the shirt wasn’t a bad thing, but she cleaned off the cum. She had come at least four times thanks to Root’s amazing fingers and tongue, whilst she had given only two orgasms to the women. Deeply, she hoped she could have sex with her another time, because the sight of the woman getting fucked by her was probably the hottest thing she had ever seen-.

_Oh, hell no._

She shook her head, sighing and she finally opened the door.

There, in front of her, was Gen, with the dog and she had a grimace on her face. The dog scowled and Shaw smiled down at him, scratching him behind the ear. He seemed to appreciate that, leaning into her hand.

“You’re loud,” Gen huffed and Shaw rolled her eyes, caressing the dog. She liked him already. “His name is Bear. I found him in the woods once, playing with Vincent.”

“Vincent?” Shaw asked, raising her eyebrows. She had heard that name somewhere, but she couldn’t pinpoint where.

“Walt’s dog! He’s amazing, you’d love him and he’s been here for quite a while. Bear here doesn’t really listen to me, but Vincent doesn’t either,” the girl explained and Shaw grimaced. She remembered seeing a Walt, but she couldn’t pinpoint where or when either. Hell, she was bad at remembering stuff now. Maybe she was getting old.

The truth was, she hadn’t cared about that then, she didn’t care now. And she needed to do more exercise as well, because apparently she wasn’t on the list of “Hugo’s favorite puppets who get to save the world.” She’d get away soon enough if they wouldn’t give her a proper job, she promised.

“Boss is waiting, by the way. I daren’t ask you what you were doing there in that room with Root, but I suppose she wasn’t trying to kill you,” Gen scoffed, grimacing again. Shaw figured she had to be thinking about the sounds both of them made.

The thought of a small girl listening to them having sex made her wanna throw up. Root probably knew, too, but didn’t say anything. She glared at a blank point in space, imagining Root there. It didn’t work. The mere thought of the woman, made her clit throb. She couldn’t believe her body. Always ready to jump on the first person who gives it the best treatment. Not that she would say no to another round or more with the woman, but this wasn’t the time.

“Yeah, sure,” Shaw grumbled, rolling her eyes. Root was getting on her nerves even when she wasn’t there. Great.

“So, have you met Walt?” Gen asked, as they made their way downstairs. Shaw rolled her eyes and nodded. “Really? Oh, he’s amazing isn’t he?”

“No.” Shaw grimaced. She didn’t even remember what he looked like. He probably was nice, but she hadn’t paid much attention to him. He was definitely too young anyway.

Gen gasped, putting her hand on her lips. “He’s tall! And strong and really nice. He has been here for _so_ long and he was supposed to be our leader, but he declined. Elias took his place then. Walt would’ve been perfect, though. I wish he would talk to me, ya know... I’m too young for him and ugly and he’ll never like me,” the girl gushed. Ugh.

“You _are_ too young, so stop thinking about it,” Shaw scolded her and Gen whined at that, pouting.

“I just _really_ like him!” She complained, but Shaw shrugged. She didn’t have time for kid drama.

As they walked past the old men playing cards, she spotted the man from before. He was staring again and she glared at him, hoping he’d turn around. He didn’t.

“That’s John Greer,” Gen told her. “He’s really creepy. I don’t know much, but I’m 100% sure he’s the oldest man alive. Look at his wrinkles!” Shaw laughed. She didn’t laugh often, but the girl had a point: the man was literally all wrinkles.

“I’m sure he’s older than all of us combined,” she said back, scolding herself as she realized she really didn’t do laughing. “Anyway, tell me more about Elias.”

“I don’t know much, honestly. I mean, he’s great and smart and all and only comes out every once in a while, but I’ve never seen him. I believe he’ll save us, though. He can do that. He’s really strong. I think people should appreciate him more,” the girl answered. Didn’t they appreciate him enough already?

“I thought he was like a God to y’all, so like, don’t y’all appreciate him enough anyway?” Shaw mumbled.

They were now in a dark corridor. It was full of carvings that represented marriages or birth-giving, or other shitty things Shaw had no interest in. The paintings on the walls were odd to her. They were covered in dust and there were lots of cobwebs. She was glad she had shoes on this time, because walking on this, would be unhealthy and truly unreasonable.

“People only appreciate the fact he’s our leader. They don’t appreciate his job from before. Being a mob leader is awful, obviously, but he was great at it. That’s why the Island chose him,” Gen shrugged, touching the walls with her small hands.

Shaw scoffed, looking up. The ceiling was full of cobwebs too and she noticed some bats too. Yikes, this place was certainly not the best to walk in the dark.

“So, y’all believe the _Island_ chose you? An island? You actually personalize _it?_ ” Shaw questioned. The sound of a rat running between her feet didn’t do anything to her, but Gen seemed to be shaken up by it, as she shivered and grabbed Shaw’s hand.

Shaw let go of her hand immediately, glaring at the kid. She didn’t do hand-holding.

“It’s not just an island. It protects us,” Gen argued. “It’ll make me become a spy one day, you know? It already taught me how to spy on some people!”

Shaw stopped in her tracks, frowning. “Hold on, it actually talks to you?”

“Yes! It talks to Root as well, didn’t you know? It doesn’t tell me much, obviously, but I think Root can listen to Her all the time. She calls her The Machine,” Gen said, walking up to an enormous wooden door. Shaw followed her, furrowing her brows. That was who Root meant, then.

“Why? That’s a silly name,” Shaw noticed.

“It’s cool. I call Her that too,” Gen shrugged. She knocked on the door, three times, then one, then four. A man’s voice replied from the room, telling them to come in and Gen waved at the door, patting Shaw’s back. “Good luck. She knows how much you need it.”

“Whatever,” Shaw muttered, opening the door quickly. She never cared about appearances; she wouldn’t start doing that now.

What she saw couldn’t exactly be described as the room of a leader. It was not small, no, but it wasn’t big either. The walls were full of cravings, old paintings and cobwebs. There were some counters with jars full of insects. She saw a polar bear head on the wall and she glared at it. She hated it when people put their trophies on the walls. If you gotta kill something for show, don’t do it.

Elias’s desk was small and looked more like a normal table. It was full of papers, maps and pens. Some other things too, but Shaw didn’t spare them a long enough glance to classify them.

The floor was full of different weapons and Shaw noted excitedly a shelf full of different weapons. There was a .45, a .46, an AK-47, an M1903 Springfield and other kids of guns and rifles. She grinned. She wanted to use all of them. She didn’t even need a target; she’d just happily hold them while shooting in the air.

Finally, she glanced at the man in question, who was looking at her expectantly.

He was truly balding, like Root had said. He had a really plump face, small lips and small blue eyes. He wore glasses, but they were fake, Shaw could see that. She rolled her eyes at that. That was the typical look of a man who wanted to look smarter than he was. He didn’t look tall and his hands were now holding a small gun, pointing at her. And he was dressed well too.

Way to greet someone, Shaw thought, glaring at his gun.

“Nice glasses,” she said, still glaring at his gun. He didn’t move, checking her out. “It’s a shame they’re fake.” He smirked and stood up, putting the gun down. His glasses soon followed the gun on the desk and he stared at her. He looked pleased of himself and he was getting on her nerves.

She shifted, glaring at him. She pursued her lips, hoping he’d get the hint.

“Sameen Shaw, I’ve heard so much about you,” he finally said. He pointed at the chair in front of him and she sat down. It was uncomfortable and she felt something awful touching her back. She ignored it.

“Huh, I could say the same about you,” she lied. This man was making her uneasy.

“Hugo talked about you a lot. Samantha too.” He seemed to be thoughtful and she wondered who Samantha was. She didn’t ask, though. “She doesn’t like to be called that, that nerd. Root. Clever name. Something wrong, an error. Or the root of it all. The root of all things. Clever.”

So Root’s real name was Samantha. Ugly name, Shaw thought. She definitely liked Root more- No, she didn’t. Awful choice of name.

“She is a root, isn’t she? An error. Bad code in the system. A virus,” he mused. Shaw didn’t like him already. Root was definitely not an error. Or bad code. Or virus. She was- her worst nightmare. But really great in bed.

“No.” Shaw stated angrily. He laughed. His laugh was ironic, he seemed to be making fun of her.

“Oh, I figured you wouldn’t agree with me,” he mused. “Everyone heard how pleased you were to be with her today.”

“Get to the point, baldy.” The man laughed again, pouring some tea in two cups. She stared down at that, although she wasn’t curious. She just needed to know if he wasn’t going to give her any poison to it as well. He didn’t.

“While you were imprisoned, the others planned how to destroy HR,” Shaw nodded. She knew that. She knew that very well. “They bugged every house. Every single one. And the ear-bugs; they modified them. They can hear everything anyone says. And now they’re gonna go to every person that seems anyhow suspicious to bring them here. We’re gonna process them. Kill them if need be.”

“Public execution... Sounds rather medieval,” Shaw snarled, glaring at him. She was angry.

“If it’s needed, we’re gonna do it. And if they’re too many, we’re gonna cut off their communications. They’re gonna get infected by a virus that will only affect the enemies. The Island will choose the enemies,” Elias continued.

“Natural selection? How can you trust it? What if it lies?” Shaw pointed out. “And what will you do then? After their communications are infected? Catch them all, kill them? I’m all for killing but this doesn’t make any sense. This plan is bullshit.”

“And what do you want us to do?”

“I want you to listen to their coms. Listen. And then put a bullet in their head. Not in front of everyone though. Make it clean,” Shaw shrugged and sipped her tea.

“I didn’t think you were one for scalpel decisions,” he noticed, sipping his tea as well.

“Me neither. And I’m not. But here’s my plan. I worked this way for the ISA and it was good. It worked, so I think you should do it too.” She really wasn’t one for precise decisions. This wasn’t even a difficult decision. Listen, check the situation, put a bullet in the head and make it clean. She always worked like that.

“I see… And maybe then I can convince people they were killed by their employees, because they disobeyed them. Scare them but in the right way, a way that won’t make me the enemy,” Elias agreed with her and she smirked. Oh, hell yes. “I will tell my people today that we’re going to war.”

“War?” Shaw frowned. No, she didn’t mention a war, did she?

“Yeah, I mean. I’ll send some of my people to take out the enemies too, maybe in the bushes or something. Clean stuff, don’t worry. My men are always clean and you can never see them,” Elias explained. Shaw sighed, drinking her tea which was already getting cold. Meh, cold tea was awful. “Do you agree?”

“I’m merely a new recruit, don’t ask me,” she shrugged, rolling her eyes.

“You’re not,” he said. She furrowed her brows, but he didn’t elaborate and she didn’t care anyway. “See you in the evening. Come and watch my speech. It’ll be good.”

“You’re full of yourself,” she rolled her eyes.

“Your girlfriend is too and you don’t mind that,” he pointed out. She didn’t have a girlfriend.

“If only I had a girlfriend,” she scoffed. “Bye.”

She stood up, ready to leave, but Elias stopped her.

“One last thing.” She glared at him, rolling her eyes and pursuing her lips. What more could he tell her. “Check on Genrika. Be her observer. This is your task here. I need to know who’s a spy here and she’s always wanted to be one. She might be on the wrong side, somehow.”

Shaw sneered, shaking her head. “Whatever you say, Boss.”

She was met by Gen, with the dog and she kissed the dog, making a stupid face. She loved dogs. The walls seemed darker now and she wondered how long had it taken. No more than ten minutes, probably.

She glanced at the girl. If she was a spy, well, hell, then Shaw was the best person ever.

 

 

#####  **Day 48**

**Somewhere In The Pacific, The Island**

**7:05 PM**

 

 

“I heard you too, you know,” Zoe laughed. “I didn’t think you were this loud.”

“Shut up,” Shaw huffed annoyingly. She didn’t like talking about her sex life, unlike Zoe who seemed to enjoy that sort of thing. Joss was just awkwardly standing next to them.

After Shaw had been led back to her room, she had been ordered to give back the good clothes and she wore the awful ones. She did some workout, ate, read some stuff until Zoe and Joss told her they hadn’t talked for way too long and here they were, waiting for Elias’s speech.

The fact that Joss was still here was surprising, but she said the leader of the mission was Root, not her, so she could leave later. Shaw thought that suspicious but didn’t say anything about it.

“I think it’s all Root. She made her so loud,” Joss winked, grinning. Shaw eyed her cautiously. Traitor.

“I bet she touched all the right places… Plenty of sucking too,” Zoe snorted, covering her mouth to stifle the little laughs, but she was obvious anyway. Shaw glared at her, shaking her head. They were unbelievable. Joss joined Zoe at laughing and they were gripping each other’s arms to hold themselves still as they laughed.

“Wow, I didn’t know talking about my sex life would make you laugh so much,” she mumbled. Joss laughed one last time and stopped, followed by Zoe.

“I’m sorry,” Joss stifled another wave of laughter and Shaw rolled her eyes. And here she thought Joss was serious. She was wrong.

“Why aren’t you going, Zoe?” Shaw asked, annoyed. She noticed Joss had good clothes on and she frowned, angry. She hated her own clothes and every man was staring at her abs. She hated that. Their gaze literally burned her skin and she wanted them to stop.

“They said I’m not allowed,” Zoe shrugged and someone whistled. Shaw glared at the person who did that.

“Nice ladies, hi,” the man said, approaching them. Shaw glanced at Zoe and Joss pleadingly and they both nodded, smirking. She grinned.

“Hello,” she greeted him. “Ugly face, maybe I can fix it?” She punched him then, straight in the face. The crack of his nose breaking was the best sound ever. She loved it. She kicked him in the balls to finish him off and grinned. Then, she stepped back to admire her artwork.

He was cringing, covering his nether parts with his hands and he had a bloody nose. She figured he would, her own knuckles hurt a bit and she’d punched him well. Someone clapped their hands at her and she grimaced. She didn’t do it for public appreciation or applause.

“Dyke!” The man spat at her, going away with shaky legs. She looked after him angrily, but didn’t say anything. The word didn’t represent her. She liked men and women. And no insult could ever hurt her, really. It didn’t, anyway. She had no feelings to hurt. But she was angry.

“That was badass,” Joss complimented her, truly impressed and Shaw glanced at her, smirking again. Hell, maybe getting complimented wasn’t that bad.

“That wasn’t needed, though, dude,” Hurley suddenly said, joining the conversation. She glared at him, rolling her eyes.

“He should’ve kept his eyes up and not approached us,” Shaw retorted, pursuing her lips. She truly didn’t like Hurley. He was big, nice and not fit to be a leader. Honestly.

“True,” Hurley agreed. She frowned, confused. “But you shouldn’t’ve kicked him in the balls. Just punching him would’ve been enough. He had a big nose anyway, maybe now it’ll look better.” Zoe raised her eyebrows and Joss laughed. Shaw scoffed, but she couldn’t deny that she was kind of amused too.  Maybe he wasn’t _that_ bad.

“Boss, you surprise me,” Joss admitted, smirking. Hurley smiled widely. He looked too nice like this. And happy. And his clothes weren’t awful. Shaw envied him. And any person who didn’t know they were in danger or relished in it. Hell, she relished in fighting too, but this was kinda stupid. There’s a difference between being peaceful about what’s going to happen and being happy.

“Is he ever gonna appear to make the speech?” Shaw asked. She didn’t need to say the name, for them to realize she meant Elias.

“Hello, everybody,” Elias said from the Temple’s stairs. Hurley chuckled, followed by Zoe and Joss and Shaw rolled her eyes. She sure had a good timing. “I’m here to announce you that we’re at war.”

The crowd started shouting and pushing each other. Shaw didn’t see it in time, but someone actually pointed a gun to the air and shot. Excitement. Never the best suit of men.

“If we’re at war, it sure doesn’t look like it,” Zoe noticed. “It looks more like drunk men sloppily fighting a kitchen mouse.”

“You make great similes,” Joss snorted and Shaw had to agree with her.

“HR is planning on destroying us. They want to kill us. They want to burn our homes and make us the enemy! And we gotta fight them back!” Elias exclaimed and the crowd chanted his name. “And I tell you to fight. In the dark, kill them and make it clean. But don’t act until Hugo tells you to.”

The crowd started asking about Hugo, confused. Hugo laughed beside them and stepped in. He was awfully cute in the moment and Shaw hated cute. Except Root, maybe, but Root was good cute- what the hell.

“And I am Hurley,” Hugo greeted them, waving at them awkwardly. He looked like a big ball trying to sound less awkward than it was. It didn’t work. “I can speak to dead people and they tell me things. So I’ll know who the enemies are and I’ll tell you and you’ll fight. On the first expedition, three of you will join Head of Security Joss Carter, John Reese, new recruit Root and Ben to go to new recruit Harold Finch, who’ve elaborated a secret plan that only a strict amount of you can know. I will not tell you about it publicly, because it’s dangerous, but uh, dudes, don’t worry.”

“Does he say ‘dude’ all the time or is that just my imagination?” Zoe asked, leaning into Shaw. The smaller woman frowned and shrugged. He did, though.

“And uh, just so ya know and all, I’m real, I think,” he added and the crowd erupted in awkward laughter. Shaw grimaced, glancing at Joss who seemed to be equally confused and Zoe was literally a big questioning mark.

“Is he always like that?” Shaw questioned, directed at Carter, who shrugged.

“Kinda. He has weird moments,” she explained and Shaw nodded. She didn’t get it. “He’s good though, that’s what matters.”

“Not really,” Shaw disagreed.

A leader should be strong, fit to lead, not a big ball who can’t even speak, she thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again, everybody!  
> I hoped you like this chapter and if you did, leave some feedback!
> 
> _Agni_


	10. Chapter 10

#####  **Day 49**

**Somewhere In The Pacific, The Island**

**8:08 AM**

 

 

One thing Root absolutely hated about living on this Island, was the people. The Island itself was amazing. The birds, the streams, the beaches, the trees; it settled a nice feeling in her heart and she wouldn’t give that up. But the people were awful. Always greedy, always wanting more.

She’s always hated that about people in general. They never settled on one principal, one desire. Once they got something, they wanted more; always asked, never actually worked for it. She herself had many desires, but if she wanted to reach a point in her life, she always worked hard for it.

But people were just greedy. People wanted to have the world, without paying the price for it. They wanted to have money, without finding a job, beggars on the streets, beggars in the house. To hell with them, Root thought.

People were awful beings and the more she lived on this Island, the more she realized how fucked up society could be. On first sight, it seemed to be peaceful. People just living their awfully quiet lives on a boring Island. But the surface could be deceiving and as she lived here longer, she grew to realize that people here were just as greedy and just as bad. And the thought of a war creeping onto them was just another proof of how fucked up they were.

Greed was something Root hated more than she could ever imagine. She didn’t mind ambition; she was ambitious herself. But greed led to people wanting more than they deserved. Ambition led to sacrifices, hard work. Her motto was ‘hard work ever pays’, but it wasn’t true.

As she went on more in life, she realized that the more you tried, the harder it was for you to get anything. If you had a good family, wealthy and all, yes, you got anything. But she was born in a small town in Texas, Bishop and she never had anything really. She lost her best friend at a young age and it only furthered her hate for humanity.

She always thought people were bad code, but to be honest, she didn’t now. The Machine taught her that people weren’t bad code. They mattered. And she herself could see that. Sameen Shaw mattered.

She couldn’t tell what had made her admire the woman so much. At first it was just attraction, nothing more, but the more the woman rejected her, the more Root realized she actually felt something. And she wasn’t one for feelings. She never denied the fact that she had feelings – hell, she had lots of them – but she didn’t like them. Yet she became a mess anytime the smaller woman rejected her.

Had Root known the woman didn’t want it, but the Machine told her she was just saying that for show and honestly, it was pretty obvious even for Root that the woman just didn’t want to give in. She knew very well Shaw didn’t want a relationship and she didn’t either, but she could never deny herself a bit of pleasure and she didn’t know when pleasure turned into something more, but she was sure now she didn’t just want to bed Shaw. Maybe she’d never wanted just that.

But she knew Shaw well, had read her file, had listened to the Machine’s chatter about her and she knew fully well that the woman couldn’t feel like everybody else. Her volume was turned down and if she cared, it was a lot. Root didn’t want her to start feeling, she didn’t want anything more than she could give from her. She hoped the woman could care about her someday, but if she wouldn’t, Root wouldn’t beg for it. Shaw was perfect the way she was.

Root hadn’t known her for long, but she could tell that what she felt for the woman went further than just attraction and it didn’t scare her. Somehow, it gave her a sense of calm, peace.

In a place of war, of greediness and failed desires, Shaw was a straight line, never asking and never giving either. Shaw wasn’t greedy. She could have the world if she wanted, Root would give it to her, but Shaw didn’t want it. Shaw was fine the way she was and it was beautiful. 

And Root didn’t want her to change. Hell, if Shaw would change, Root wouldn’t object that, but the mere thought of Shaw feeling forced to change, maybe even worse than she was just because of how she was, made Root shudder.

The people who joined her on the mission weren’t all good people, straight lines like Shaw, but they weren’t all bad either.

Joss Carter was a smart woman and beautiful too. Head of Security and for a good reason. She was probably one of the few Root actually admired. She walked always sure of herself and Root wanted to be like her. Not scared. But Root knew the woman was scared. Scared just like everybody else. Carter’s need to protect people made her falsely sure of herself. The woman needed to assure the others that she wasn’t scared. She gave the group some happy spirit.

And as she laughed with John, Root knew that the woman was definitely a great leader. Head of Security. It fit her. Her compass always pointed at the right direction, always North – even though, where was the North on this Island? The Machine wouldn’t tell her – and she was never on the wrong side. If the Machine ever failed to tell her what side should she choose, she’d know just by Carter’s choice which team should she root for.

As for John Reese, he was a damaged man. He lived his whole life on the run, until he was saved by Hugo. Root liked that of Hugo: he always brought here people who needed it the most, like her. But John had needed it truly. He was on the brick of death and the Island saved him. Now, he wasn’t certainly safer, but he was better. He was the epithet of: ‘If God talks to you, you get better’. Because, wasn’t the Island a God after all? And She saved him.

John Reese was a damaged man, but he was a good man. One of the few here. He wasn’t greedy either, but he had his flaws. One thing Root didn’t like about him, was how faithful he was. A guard dog, always protecting everybody. It was nice, really, but it could only go on for so long.

Benjamin Linus was a whole other story though. He was the greediest, most flawed man she had ever met in her life. The Machine had told her about his story. A small boy shot in the chest, turned evil. He killed his father, then killed the whole town too. Became the leader, got taken down by a better man, so he killed that man. He lost his daughter too, because he was a coward, then realized his mistake and actually became better. He’s always been a second choice, Root noticed. And he still was. After all this time, trying to be better, to be higher than everybody else, he was a second choice. A number two.

She didn’t blame him for trying, he had ambitions, but his ambitions involved killing everybody who’d stand in his way, so it was wrong. She could go past killing his father or a whole town, but he’d let his daughter die and Root didn’t like that. In all honesty, she didn’t like him. Hell, he was clever, always with a plan. But he was an awful person and even if he’d redeemed himself, she didn’t trust him really.

The three people Elias had chosen were weird and the Machine didn’t tell her anything about them, so Root didn’t know what to think. The woman seemed kind of evil, though. Blonde, tall, awfully dressed like everybody else. She gave Root a sense of insecurity. Besides, she was sure she’d seen her somewhere, but she couldn’t quite tell where.

The two men looked like poor farm men. They didn’t have anything and from what she heard them say to each other, they didn’t have anyone waiting for them. She figured, if any of them died, nobody would cry. Quite sad, really.

She didn’t really want to talk to anybody. The walk to the Pearl could be very boring and it required many pit stops and at least one to eat. She wasn’t hungry, but she could be in a few minutes. Her stomach really had an awful timing.

The jungle itself amazed her. The bushes, the trees, the birds. The nature at its best. She loved this place for these quiet moments, but they had only started walking really, so there was much to come.

She had gone for a quick stop to the underground station beneath the Temple, recently created by Elias, where they had told her to look out for the men that would go with them. She didn’t know why, the Machine wouldn’t tell her, but she figured they’d be dangerous. They had also given her a special map of all the underground stations, just in case. And the electric panels. She needed to have them to know the exact location of the main electric power of the whole Island, just in case.

She didn’t trust any of the men at the Temple, nor did she trust anyone really, except the few people she’d had more contact with, but it was reasonable. The Machine didn’t exactly tell her who was good and who was good. It never even told her all of the story. Bah, the Machine wouldn’t even talk to her lately, only to interrupt her when she was with Shaw, which was really rude, but that was it.

She told her about things that were bound to happen, but not about people, not anymore. Maybe it figured that sorting out people, bad and good, was wrong. After all, who was She to decide who’s good and who’s bad. What action can decide that?

Root didn’t know, but she needed intel and She didn’t tell her. Also, She seemed to be mad at something Root did, but Root didn’t know what it was.

Joss was now pointing at a direction, covering her eyes and Root mentally asked the Machine what it was, but she had no answer. She had to be really mad. Root hated the silence treatment though and she hoped She’d stop soon.

“What is it?” She asked, approaching her group cautiously, with a nice smile already drawn on her face. Hell, she was good at pretending. Joss glanced at her. Root wasn’t sure if the woman really trusted her. She was, after all, an ex-killer for hire.

“There’s a small camp right there,” she showed Root and the nerdy woman nodded. “We don’t know if it’s friendly or not.”

 _Location: Capsule Dump. Three people on guard, Dharma patrol. Joey Durban, Harper Rose and Logan Pierce. Friendly. You can approach them, but you need to be careful. They know about the HR patrols trying to kill them; they might think you are the enemy,_ The Machine spoke in her ear and she sighed happily. Joss frowned at her, confused and Root shook her head. The Machine finally spoke to her and that was all that mattered.

And of course, the matter in hand, which was telling the others about their situation here.

“It’s friendly. But we need to approach them carefully; we might look like the enemy to them,” Root told them. John’s expression was as usual blank, Joss was confused and the three Hostiles were shocked, although the woman seemed to be thinking about something. Ben stood silent, watching her carefully.

Once again, Root asked the Machine about her, but she remained silent. To hell with that, she thought.

“How do you get that kind of information?” The Hostile woman asked her and Root smirked. She checked her, up and down and asked the Machine again. She _had_ to know.

 _Hold off information, do not tell her. She- s-s-she-,_ the Machine tried to tell her, but something interfered. Root frowned but decided not to tell her. Well, she wouldn’t’ve told her anyway, but at least she knew for sure she couldn’t.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” The woman pursued her lips. A small crinkle appeared. Well, she had a few of them. She looked at least forty, but Root had to admit that she was hot. Really hot. She’d totally fuck her, if she didn’t feel like being faithful to Shaw.

They weren’t exclusive – they had only had sex once – but Root didn’t feel like doing that anyway. No matter how hot the woman would be. And the blonde woman was attractive and didn’t look friendly. But maybe that was just Root thinking things.

“Flirting is unnecessary,” Ben told her and Root raised her eyebrows. She didn’t flirt. “We should approach them if Root deems them fit.”

Joss nodded and John just stared blankly – did he ever do anything else than that? – while the three shrugged. Root didn’t say anything, but silently pleaded the Machine that She was right.

The birds flew off as Root accidentally stepped on a branch. John turned to look at her, grimacing. His tanned skin really looked weird when grimacing. She smiled apologetically at him and he nodded, turning around to continue walking.

 _The patrol heard you,_ the Machine alerted her and she widened her eyes open, biting her lower lip.

As if on cue, the man whom Root recognized as Joey Durban, came out his hiding-point pointing an AEK-971 at them. John sucked into his breath, probably admiring the rifle and he pointed his own rifle, a gorgeous AK-47, at the man. Root grinned, taking out her own gun and the three Hostiles pointed their AK-74’s. Joss held an AK-101 and Ben pointed his small gun at them too.

Root wasn’t exactly a gun expert, not like Shaw was, obviously, but the Machine literally named all of the firearms in her ear. They sounded exciting. But anything the Machine told her was exciting; She always gave her interesting news.

“What says one snowman to another snowman?” Joey asked and everyone snorted. That was probably the easiest question ever. Even HR people would know the answer to that.

Root shook her head, smirking. “Smells like carrots. But this is easy, don’t you think?” She positioned her gun better, pointing right at his head. He fidgeted, clearly not ready for such a situation.

“What lies in the shadow of the statue?” Root smiled wider. This was way too easy.

“ _Ile qui nos omnes servabit_ ,” she said, laughing. “You’re making it _so_ easy! You do realize HR knows these answers too?”

Joey frowned. “So you’re not HR?”

“Well, he’s dumb,” the Hostile woman sneered. Root chuckled.

“Don’t be like this. Joey, don’t you recognize me?” John stepped in and Joey glanced at him confusedly, before he realized who it was and lowered his rifle.

“John! I haven’t seen you in a while, man,” he smiled. “And hold on, you’re Root, Carter and Linus. Shit, sorry, I had a loss of memory, I think. But who are those three?”

“You did well,” Ben complimented him. “Even if you see familiar faces, you can’t know they’re not HR.”

“Yeah, but those three?” He asked again, hastily.

“Hostiles,” Joss told him. “Their names are- I honestly don’t know.”

“We don’t tell our names to just anybody,” one of the men shrugged. “Ben knows our names, if he wants to tell you, he’ll tell you.”

Joss scoffed. “That’s ridiculous.”

John laid a hand on her left shoulder, smiling down at her. “Come on, Carter, it’s fine.” The woman glared at him, but nodded.

“In case someone is wondering, I don’t know either,” Root said apologetically. Carter raised her eyebrows surprised. Everyone knew Root was the one to always deliver information, but even she didn’t know sometimes. If the Machine didn’t tell her, she wasn’t all knowing, that was the point. And She didn’t talk to her in the moment.

“Well, uh, you can pass through this area. I’ll accompany you just in case,” Joey announced and Root nodded.

 

 

 

#####  **Day 49**

**Somewhere In The Pacific, The Island**

**10:41 AM**

 

 

 

They followed Joey until they reached the Orchid. The walk was quite long because they had to stop to eat and drink and there were lot of pit stops too, but when they reached it, Joey nodded them off and turned back to the Capsule Damp.

The Orchid itself was quite a big Dharma Station. It was disguised as a botanical research station, but now everyone now it was an experiment station. The Dharma, back in its days, detected a pocket of anomalous energy in this sector of the Island and constructed this station to find a way to tap this energy as a means of allowing the Initiative to manipulate time. Quite a clever idea, but the ways of testing this area awful. They mainly experimented on animals: bunnies, polar bears- Root hated it. Animal testing? Bad idea.

Besides, lots of people died when drilling into the rocks, so seriously, bad idea.

Another means to this station, was to move the Island itself. There was a wheel underneath and whoever moved it, moved the Island itself. In time and in place. But there was a price to it, Root knew. The person who moved the wheel also left the Island, forever. That was the price of it. If you push the wheel, you can never come back to the Island.

Only one person didn’t follow the rules: Benjamin Linus. But nobody talked about it. He paid a price for it. He left the Island to do bad things and after he did the bad things, he realized it was wrong, so he found a way to come back, to pay the price of them. He wanted to redeem himself, wanted to be judged by the Island itself for his sins and instead committed other crimes, misguided by the Man in Black who pretended to be the Island. He was, in a way, but not the Good, judging side.

Ben understood his mistakes, obviously, and once again, the cost of it was bad. Root knew how much he had struggled to make the right choice. Once you’ve gone down the wrong path, it’s hard to go back to the high road. Oh, Root knew how difficult it was.

Ben had found people to help him, but Root hated people, so she needed something superior. The Machine saved her.

And now it didn’t talk to her. She smiled sadly at that, staring at the Orchid. They stopped there to eat something again. Ben said he needed to eat a lot, that was his diet. Joss wouldn’t deny food, John ate if he had to and the three Hostiles didn’t eat, patrolling the area. They didn’t trust anybody anyway. Root felt lonely in this group. Carter was nice, but didn’t trust her. John neither and never mind the others.

Ben admired her and her artwork, but he was no good company. Always sarcastic, mean and witty. He always bantered with her, because he wanted to prove her that she didn’t know more than him; she did, but he wouldn’t agree. He couldn’t agree.

She wasn’t hungry and the Orchid was getting dull the more she stared at it. She looked down at her satellite phone and huffed. She was lonely, that was the truth and she didn’t want to be anymore.

“Need some water?” Carter asked her, sitting down next to her. Root looked up, curious. She smiled and nodded. The other woman passed her a bottle of water.

 _This is an Ajira Flights bottle. They used these back when Hugo was just a plane crash survivor. Sometimes the water bottles don’t arrive from the mainland so they use these. Don’t worry, they’re good and disinfected,_ the Machine told her and Root accepted the bottle, taking a long sip of fresh water. It was still cool and she relished in the feeling.

“Thank you,” she said groggily, getting some water stuck in her throat and she coughed. Some tears trickled out and coughed a few times more, with an awful feeling in the back of her throat.

_You should drink some more, it’ll help you._

“Oh, so now you talk to me?” She gritted, drinking anyway. It did make her feel better, but the look on Joss’s face wasn’t one of the best. She seemed confused.

“If you don’t want me to talk to you, I can go away,” she said and Root widened her eyes open. Oh, hell no.

“I wasn’t talking to you, I’m sorry,” she apologized.

“Oh, you have an ear bug? I didn’t know,” Joss said, surprised. “Anyway, you’re not as bad as I thought, you know?”

“Thanks,” Root scoffed, but she smiled a bit. It made her happier than she thought it would.

“I know we’re not friends and anything, but for what it’s worth, I think you’d be good as a Protector of the Island,” Joss added and Root raised her eyebrows. Well, this was surprising.

She had thought of it herself, obviously. She _wanted_ to be the Protector of the Island. It was an honor to be that. She’d be immortal, too. She’d get to stay on this Island forever, help people, find new recruits, protect this amazing place. Get to talk to the Island forever. Never getting tired.

But she’d also watch people she loved dying, one by one. She’d have to give up love, because it’d hurt too much. And yet she wanted this. She didn’t know before, but this was what she had been dreaming of her whole life. She deserved it too. And to hear someone like Joss said that- it just mattered even more. And it sounded beautiful. She’d be a great Protector.

Maybe love wasn’t loving a person, as much as loving a God and the Island was her God. She’d have her Island and that would be enough- No, it wouldn’t. She smiled sadly, as she thought about Shaw. Shaw, who had done literally nothing more than look at her, to steal her whole essence away. She didn’t know if she loved her, or just cared about her, but she knew that the thought of immortality with Shaw’s mortality just didn’t sound right to her.

She knew Shaw would never agree to immortality; that just wasn’t her thing. Shaw would rather live a short but fulfilling life, instead of an endless but boring one. The thought of recruiting people just didn’t suit Shaw.

“If you don’t like the idea, it’s fine,” Joss assured her and Root shook her head, realizing she had been in a transit, quite forgetting her surroundings.

“No, it’s a great idea. I- thank you,” she whispered back and Joss nodded, standing up slowly.

“We should get going,” she announced and Root agreed with her with an inaudible ‘right’ and they both collected the others to leave.

John frowned at them, confused and Root figured he still didn’t trust her. He stared protectively at Joss and Root rolled her eyes. She was used to people hating her, but this didn’t feel right. She wanted to stop feeling this let down anytime someone looked at her as if she was a bad person; she wasn’t.

She had done several things to prove John and the others that she wasn’t a killer anymore. But they all read her files, they all knew what she had done, the lives she’d taken. John had done similar things, but she’d taken far more important lives. Shaw had too, they weren’t saints. But she was judged more, as always. Nobody ever trusted her.

Harold didn’t either. He’d read her files, by accident and she’d tried to convince him she’d changed, but he thought she wanted to kill him, so she scared him to death instead, by accident. The man was really easy to scare and they worked together for quite a while, even though he stayed most of the time alone at the Pearl because it was way too far.

She had helped him bug the ear-bugs for a month, though and it had been calm and he was always nice, but not exactly the best person to be alone with. He never talked and was always way too serious. Bugging those ear-bugs went way too smoothly too and it was suspicious, but the Machine didn’t alert her of anything.

Harold himself, she knew, was a pacific person, but she also knew he could be manipulated. He had firm beliefs and he always followed the rules, but who made those rules? He had a code and if someone followed it, he could trust them. She just hoped he didn’t trust the wrong people.

The Machine would’ve alerted her though, right?

 

 

 

#####  **Day 49**

**Somewhere In The Pacific, The Island**

**1:57 PM**

 

 

 

“Ms. Groves,” Harold said harshly. Root bit on her lip; she didn’t like the use of her real name. It made her cringe and bad memories come back.

She was a scared girl back then. A girl who deserved better. The girl was clever, but not enough. That night, that girl died, making its way to Root. Root, the killer, the hacker, the genius. It hurt her when she left a part of her life behind, but she wouldn’t change any of it.

“Hello, Harry,” she retorted, smiling. “Got anything new for us?”

“Actually, yes,” he nodded and Ben approached him, curious. She could sense that Harold tensed as soon as the man joined him; albeit the man was younger, they looked very alike, if not the same and it was quite confusing. For Harold it had to be terrible, because he knew Ben’s sins and didn’t appreciate them. Nobody did; she understood him, but couldn’t deny that letting your daughter die was awful. Still, he wasn’t a bad man and he was clever. Just way too sarcastic.

“So?” Ben raised his eyebrows expectantly. He had weird eyebrows and there were lots of crinkles. He wasn’t as old as Harold, but he wasn’t young either.

“I found a file containing the names of two traitors.”

“Two? That’s it?” Root frowned. She touched her ear, expecting the Machine to say anything, but She didn’t.

“Yes, only two. Genrika Zhirova and… Taylor Carter,” he moved aside, showing the two persons’ files. Root gaped, staring at the kids. That wasn’t possible.

Joss and John approached them too, staring at the files. A kid? Joss shook her head.

“No, my son would never,” she gritted. “You check your data again, Finch, you do that!”

Harold stepped aside, as far as he could from Joss. The desk stopped him and he stumbled. “The data was hidden in an encrypted file. It took half an out to undo it and then when I finally hacked into, it only contained these two names.”

“Then how do you know these kids have anything to do with this? How can you be so sure?” Joss pointed a girl at him and poked him. Harold opened his mouth, but words didn’t come out. Root knew he was scared. But most of all, he didn’t know.

“They’re spies,” Harold said, after a moment of thought.

Ben shook his head, frowning. Despite the similarity the two men weren’t alike when it came to that. “No. It would make sense that they would pretend to hold prisoner Taylor, but it’s not true. The Island would alert us. Hurley would know. And Gen... she’s a special kid and we’re checking her, but personally, I don’t think she’s involved.”

“Who’s checking her?” Harold asked, frowning.

“Sameen Shaw. She’s good and the kid likes her,” Ben shrugged.

“And does Ms. Shaw like Miss Zhirova?”

“No. She doesn’t like anyone. She’s a sociopath,” Ben told him. Harold grimaced.

“True,” he whispered. He probably remembered the one time when he and Shaw had to work together. Despite the seriousness of the situation, Root chuckled. Everyone glared at her and she pouted. She didn’t think Shaw didn’t have feelings. The voices were there, as the Machine told her, but she couldn’t listen.

“Well, and Taylor is in the enemy’s hands,” John said, his voice low as usual. Hell, that man was a grump.

“We can send someone as an inside man to check the situation,” Ben pointed out. Root raised her eyebrows. “That person would pretend to be one of them and find information, then come back and report. I think that would work.”

“And how will that person pretend to be one of them? Will they be like: ‘Oh, hey, I’m on your side, see? I have a badge, or better, a drawing of a badge!’” Root snorted. She loved the Pirates of the Caribbean and she had a chance, so she took it. Joss chuckled and even Ben drew a smile on very thin lips. Harold stood in stony silence, clearly offended that they didn’t believe in the file. As for John, he was always serious. Ugh.

“No.” Ben admitted. Harold stared at him curiously. Root just shrugged, waiting. “You’ll go to work there, on their side, start talking to our known traitors, which are Kara Stanton and Patrick Simmons and you’ll spread rumors about-,” Root raised her hand.

“I?”

“Yes, you. You’re the best for that,” Ben shrugged. Root widened her eyes and looked around herself.

_He’s right, but be careful. I’ll try to help you, if I can but- b-but, I-I can-cannot get through, so-someone is stop-stopping me-me._

“Okay. And what will I spread rumors about?”

“About us. Hugo, Carter, me. You’ll tell the worst things about us. When they start trusting you, you’ll infiltrate them. Be wary, do that any way you want to. White card to you. And remember that you’re on our side,” Root scoffed _,_ clearly offended by the assumption. She would never betray them; why didn’t anybody trust her.

“Okay, when do I start?” She gazed at him. Her face was very calm, but she was scared. Her heartbeat was faster than usual and she couldn’t breathe properly. Sure, she had infiltrated people before, but this was more serious. She would infiltrate the enemy, but she couldn’t do it with just a fake ID and a gun at stake.

This time, she’d have to be prepared for anything, literally. And it all depended on her. Whether she’d be able to lie well enough to get in there, or she’d die. The fact that death itself started to scare her, meant she had grown. The Island helped her in that. Fearing death is not stupid, after all. Fear itself is not even that bad. As long as it doesn’t stop you from doing important things, fear can give you enough force of will to do that thing. Fear can lead you, because the fear of losing, is almost as unbearable as the one of death. But if losing equals dying, isn’t it better to win and not die at all?

She smiled, waiting for the answer. Ben’s gaze on her was apprehensive and she hated it. She wanted to wipe it off somehow. Maybe a gunshot.

“Tomorrow.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, y'all! I'm back and with the longest chapter for now.  
> It's in Root's POV as you surely noticed.  
> I'm gonna write more in her POV from now on, although the next chapter is in Shaw's.  
> I honestly don't know if you liked this chapter, but if you did, leave me some feedback, it makes me very happy!
> 
> Agni.


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